Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended volatile session on a higher note on Friday. Markets made negative start of the day, as sentiments got impacted with the Reserve Bank data showing that India Inc's direct overseas investment declined 67 per cent to $753.61 million in February this year. Some worries also came, after N S Vishwanathan, Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, said India needs a very strong bond market that can fund projects and manage its risks. He mentioned projects with implementation risks should normally be financed by the capital markets and not by banks using public deposits.

Fluctuating between green and red terrain again and again, key indices traded volatile during the trading session, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders remained cautious, as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that the war in Ukraine and massive sanctions against Russia have triggered a contraction in global trade, sending food and energy prices sharply higher and forcing the International Monetary Fund to lower its global growth forecast next month.

However, markets managed to end in green, taking support with Rating agency Crisil in its latest report ‘India Outlook, Fiscal 2023′ has said that Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.8 per cent in 2022-23, mainly driven by the government’s drive to push infrastructure spending and likely increase in private capital expenditure. Some support came in as bank credit grew by 7.9 per cent to Rs 116.27 lakh crore and deposits rose by 8.6 per cent to Rs 162.17 lakh crore in the fortnight ended February 25.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green after the previous session’s hefty losses and UK economy rebounded in January after the easing of restrictions related to the pandemic. Asian markets ended mostly lower, after Japanese large companies' confidence turned negative in the first quarter. The survey results from the Ministry of Finance showed that the large industries' business survey index fell to -7.5 in January to March period from +9.6 in the preceding period.

The BSE Sensex ended at 55550.30, up by 85.91 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 55049.95 and 55833.95. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index up by 0.90%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.07%, PSU up by 1.01%, Oil & Gas up by 0.96%, Basic Materials up by 0.84% and Metal up by 0.57%, while Auto down by 0.35%, Telecom down by 0.14%, TECK down by 0.12% and IT down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.82%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.07%, ITC up by 1.81%, Power Grid up by 1.70% and Titan Co up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.56%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.38%, NTPC down by 0.75%, Axis Bank down by 0.56% and TCS down by 0.54% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to promote and support untapped creativity of MSME sector, Union Minister for MSME Narayan Rane has launched the MSME Innovative Scheme (Incubation, Design and IPR) along with the MSME Idea Hackathon 2022. Rane further said that MSMEs have an important role to play in Atmanirbhar Bharat. He said these schemes will help entrepreneurs in developing new ventures.

MSME Innovative is a holistic approach to unify, synergize and converge 3 sub-components and interventions with a single purpose. MSME Innovative is a new concept for MSMEs with a combination of innovation in incubation, design intervention and by protecting IPR in a single mode approach to create awareness amongst MSMEs about India’s innovation and motivate them to become MSME Champions. This will act as a hub for innovation activities facilitating and guiding development of ideas into viable business proposition that can benefit society directly and can be marketed successfully.

The scheme aims to improve the IP culture in India with a view to enhance the awareness of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) amongst the MSMEs and to encourage creative intellectual endeavor in Indian economy. It also aims to take suitable measures for the protection of ideas, technological innovation and knowledge-driven business strategies developed by the MSMEs for their commercialization and effective utilization of IPR tools through IP Facilitation Centre.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16630.45, up by 35.55 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 16470.90 and 16694.40. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 5.76%, Sun Pharma up by 3.73%, BPCL up by 3.72%, JSW Steel up by 2.92% and Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.27%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.82%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.51%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.07%, Hindalco down by 0.79% and NTPC down by 0.75% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green, Germany’s DAX gained 53.19 points or 0.4% to 13,495.29 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 42.05 points or 0.59% to 7,141.14. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 5.88 points or 0.09% to 6,201.32.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday as inflation worries mounted and Russia's invasion of its neighbor Ukraine entered the 16th day. Sentiments were also weak as surging U.S. inflation drove bond yields higher and raised expectations that interest rate hikes will be steeper. Japanese shares slumped after the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia failed to reach peace during the highest-level meeting in three weeks of war Thursday. Meanwhile, Chinese and Hong Kong markets were in focus after Chinese stocks in the U.S. plummeted to around 14-year lows amid renewed regulatory concerns.