Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks staged recovery to end higher on Friday’s trading session. Markets started the day in deep red terrain, as rising coronavirus cases also dampened the sentiments in the markets. India reported 39,643 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday pushing the overall tally to 11,513,945, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 159,249. Maharashtra has recorded 25,833 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day spike since last March when the first coronavirus infection was detected.

Indices were volatile in the first half of the trading session but in the second half of the session, markets turned positive and ended with strong gains, as a UN report said India's economy, estimated to contract by 6.9 per cent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, is forecast to record a stronger recovery in 2021 and grow by 5 per cent, it also said the country's current fiscal year budget points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public investment.

Markets added more gains in last hours of the trade, after Moody's said India's economy is likely to grow by 12 percent in 2021 following a 7.1 percent contraction last year, as near-term prospects have turned more favourable. Domestic and external demand has been on the mend since the easing of restrictions, which has led to improved manufacturing output in recent months. Moody's expect private consumption and nonresidential investment to materially pick up over the next few quarters and strengthen the domestic demand revival in 2021.

During the day, market participants were seen taking a note of the report stating that markets regulator Sebi has notified new regulations for portfolio managers, investment advisers and research analysts with regard to their qualifications. The move will help recognise ‘the post graduate programme in securities market of not less than one year offered by NISM’ as eligible qualification for portfolio managers, investment advisers and research analysts.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower following a sharp selloff in the tech sector on Wall Street while investors also fret about the increase in Covid-19 cases throughout the region. Asian markets ended lower on Friday, even after overall consumer prices in Japan were down 0.4 percent on year in February, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - in line with expectations and up from -0.6 percent in January. Core CPI, which exclude volatile food costs, also was down an annual 0.4 percent.

The BSE Sensex ended at 49858.24, up by 641.72 points or 1.30% after trading in a range of 48586.93 and 50003.58. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 3.25%, Utilities up by 3.04%, Energy up by 2.77%, FMCG up by 2.32% and Basic Materials up by 1.88%, while Realty down by 0.55% and Capital Goods down by 0.05% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.58%, Hindustan Unilever up by 4.44%, Power Grid up by 4.18%, Reliance Industries up by 3.60% and ITC up by 2.62%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.20%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.69%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.40%, Titan Co down by 0.29% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.03% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to strengthen the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in India, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have unveiled new initiatives. A Statement of Intent (SoI) was signed between NITI Aayog and Amazon Internet Services (AISPL), which undertakes the resale and marketing of AWS Cloud services in India.

As per the SoI, AIM will leverage AWS Educate, Amazon’s global program that provides resources for students and educators to accelerate cloud-related learning. This program will introduce the fundamentals of cloud computing such as cloud storage, virtual compute power, web hosting, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and virtual reality (VR), to students at more than 7000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) in India.

AWS will also conduct Faculty Development Programs (FDPs) for the personnel in-charge at the ATLs, and provide resources and tools at each ATL to expedite student learning, and enable them to create and build solutions on the cloud.

The CNX Nifty ended at 14744.00, up by 186.15 points or 1.28% after trading in a range of 14350.10 and 14788.25. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 4.53%, Hindustan Unilever up by 4.37%, Power Grid up by 4.14%, JSW Steel up by 4.11% and UPL up by 4.02%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.18%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.68%, Coal India down by 0.55%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.39% and Titan Co down by 0.19% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 34.85 points or 0.51% to 6,744.83, France’s CAC decreased 29.67 points or 0.49% to 6,033.12 and Germany’s DAX was down by 49.68 points or 0.34% to 14,725.84.

Asian markets ended lower on Friday as an overnight hike in long-term US Treasury yields on expectations for faster economic recovery and inflation weighed market sentiments. Moreover, declining oil prices in line with demand worries, rising Covid-19 cases and strengthening US dollar has also added further pressure on market sentiments. Japanese shares closed sharply down after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said it would only buy Topix-linked exchange traded funds in its monetary easing program, while the Japanese yen dipped briefly after the BoJ widened its target band for the benchmark yield in a decision that was in line with market expectations.