Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended in red terrain on Friday. After a negative start of the day, key indices remained lower during the trading session, as India’s tally of coronavirus cases has risen to 11,173,572, with a daily increase of 16,824 in total cases. Death toll has reached 157,584, with 113 fatalities in a day. India's count of active cases has jumped to 177,967. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 13th among worst-hit nations by active cases. Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 9,000 new cases. The state has added nearly 80,000 cases in the past 10 days.

In the first half of the session, losses were limited, as traders took some relief with the government data showing that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India grew 40 percent to $51.47 billion during April-December 2020-21. India has attracted 22 percent higher FDI inflow (including re-invested earnings) of $67.54 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal as against $55.14 billion in the same period of 2019-20. Traders were seen taking note of reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid emphasis on working hard to make manufacturing in India globally competitive and said that the government's thinking is 'minimum government, maximum governance'.

Markets added losses during the second half of the trading session, amid negative cues from the global markets. Market participants overlooked India Ratings and Research’s report stated that Non-Bank Finance Companies (NBFCs) are estimated to witness a 9.5 per cent jump in their assets under management in FY22, after a growth moderation in FY21. Maintaining its ‘stable’ outlook on both NBFCs and HFCs for FY22, it said Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) will post a higher growth at 10 per cent as home sales go up. 

On the global front, European markets were trading lower amid fears of a rise in interest rates and a continued rotation out of growth stocks into the likes of industrials. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, after Singapore retail sales decreased in January. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that retail sales declined 6.1 percent year-on-year in January, following a 3.3 percent fall in December. Motor vehicle sales rose 10.3 percent annually in January, following a 3.3 percent growth in the previous month. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales fell 8.4 percent in January, following a 4.2 percent decrease in the preceding month.

The BSE Sensex ended at 50405.32, down by 440.76 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 50160.54 and 50886.19. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.89%, while Small cap index was down by 1.50%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.18% and Energy up by 0.07%, while Metal down by 2.16%, PSU down by 1.97%, Power down by 1.80%, Telecom down by 1.77% and Basic Materials down by 1.66% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.95%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.60%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.24%, Nestle up by 0.59% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.47%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.79%, SBI down by 3.03%, Power Grid down by 2.13%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.86% and NTPC down by 1.85% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report on ‘India’s coal sector’ has said that while the high inventory at power stations and mines may continue to keep the domestic production and offtake levels under check in the near term, the players may resort to domestic coal over imported coal given the elevated import prices, especially for non-coking coal, supporting offtake.

As per the report, coal offtake improved 1.8% month on month (mom) in January 2021 to 58.9MT, driven by a 4.4% mom higher domestic power demand. However, the offtake was lower 4.5% year on year (yoy) due to the high inventory levels at power stations. Domestic coal production continued to improve in January 2021 to 66.5MT, higher 3.8% mom but lower 3.4% yoy. The output in 2HFY21 is likely to be supported by about 7% yoy higher overburden removed in 1HFY21 from open cast mines (around 94% of total production) due to a lower coal demand over 1HFY21.

Besides, the rating agency said that with the formalised ban imposed by China on Australian coal imports, coking coal import prices remained subdued over November-December 2020, on the back of an oversupply in the global market. Since mid-January 2021, coking coal import prices spiked to 49% ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays in February 2021, losing momentum thereafter with a dip of 11% in prices up to end-February 2021.

The CNX Nifty ended at 14938.10, down by 142.65 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 14862.10 and 15092.35. There were 11 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.00%, GAIL India up by 1.87%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.65%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.31% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.77%, Tata Motors down by 4.14%, Wipro down by 4.09%, UPL down by 3.88% and Hindalco down by 3.32% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 71.79 points or 1.08% to 6,579.09, France’s CAC decreased 60.29 points or 1.03% to 5,770.36 and Germany’s DAX was down by 145.38 points or 1.03% to 13,910.96.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, tracking weak global markets with anxiety over spiked treasury yields in reaction to the latest comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that he expects some inflationary pressures in the time ahead. Japanese shares ended lower as the Japan government extended the corona-virus related state of emergency by two weeks for the Tokyo region to prevent a fresh wave of infections. Chinese shares settled marginally lower as the country set a conservative economic growth target of above 6 percent for 2021, well below a widely accepted forecast of over 8 percent for the year.