Markets to get positive start ahead of Union Budget 2019

Indian markets ended higher for fourth straight session on Thursday after the Finance Ministry's Economic Survey report pegged India's growth at 7% for financial year 2019-20. Today, the markets are likely to continue pre-budget rally with positive start as Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her first Union Budget in the Parliament later in the day. Investors expect that the government could announce measures in the fiscal Budget to ease liquidity situation and boost the slowing economy. Traders will be getting some encouragement with Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Indian economic growth graph was on an upward trajectory after past policy uncertainties have been replaced by certainties. Traders may took note of Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian’s statement that India needs to accelerate investment in excess of 35% of the GDP to achieve 8% sustained growth which is essential for becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. However, there may be some cautiousness with subdued cues from global markets. Also, a report stated that investment by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) witnessed a net outflow of Rs 38,931 crore in 2018-19, compared to a net inflow of Rs 1,44,681 crore in 2017-18. There will be some buzz in the pharma stocks with ICRA’s report that Indian pharmaceutical industry is likely to grow by 11-13 per cent in the current fiscal, on the back of healthy demand from the domestic market, given increasing spend on healthcare along with improving access. There will be some reaction in telecom stocks with the Economic Survey 2018-19 stating that the telecom industry’s contribution to GDP is estimated to reach 8.2% by 2020, by when industry players are slated to also leverage 5G technologies to connect with global markets and ring in a fully networked, knowledge and services economy.

The US markets remained closed on Thursday on account of the Independence Day. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday ahead of the upcoming release of the US nonfarm payrolls report, which may provide clues as to whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its monetary policy meeting at the end of July.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks cherished the economic survey on Thursday, with Sensex and Nifty closing higher by 69 and 30 points, respectively. After a firm start, key indices remained positive for the whole day, with Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that ‘we are working on a mission mode to build India into a $5 trillion economy as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.’ Adding more comfort among market participants, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India will get additional $217 million of revenue from the retaliatory tariffs it imposed on 28 American products. Despite some volatility, markets managed to hold their gains, as the economic survey predicated 7% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for FY20 on stable macro-economic conditions. Traders remained positive with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) annual World Investment Report (WIR), which found that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Bahrain and India rose to $1.5 billion and $42 billion respectively in 2018. India's $42 billion also represented a 6% rise from the previous year, as well as the largest share of South Asia's $54 billion total. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 68.81 points or 0.17% to 39,908.06, while the CNX Nifty was up by 30.00 points or 0.25% to 11,946.75.