Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended near their intraday high points on Tuesday. After a positive start, markets remained higher during the trading session, as Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India has emerged as the world's third-largest startup ecosystem and the target is to acquire the number one position. Adding some relief among traders, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) new rules for microfinance institutions (MFIs), who have been deeply impacted in the Covid 19 pandemic because of loan losses, will help widen profits by giving such entities greater flexibility in operations.

Markets added more gains in the last hour of the trade, on the back of positive cues from the global markets. The street overlooked the latest public debt management report showing that the government’s total liabilities rose to Rs 128.41 lakh crore in December quarter from Rs 125.71 lakh crore in the three months ended September 2021. Meanwhile, Sumant Sinha, the newly elected president of Assocham, said that India needs a strong contract-enforcement agency, a simple GST regime and simplified taxation process along with a stable policy environment to significantly improve ease of doing business

On the global front, European markets were trading higher as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the latest round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul with a speech. Asian markets ended mostly higher, after the jobless rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in March, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said on Tuesday. That was beneath expectations for 2.8 percent, which would have been unchanged from the January reading. Back home, sector wise, airline industry remained in focused, as airports across India will see 33.81 crore passengers in 2022-23, 69.35 per cent more than the current financial year.

The BSE Sensex ended at 57943.65, up by 350.16 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 57639.35 and 58001.53. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.66%, while Small cap index up by 0.63%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.36%, Basic Materials up by 1.19%, Realty up by 1.03%, Consumer Durables up by 1.01% and Telecom up by 0.71%, while PSU down by 0.76%, Energy down by 0.50%, Oil & Gas down by 0.30%, Auto down by 0.19% and FMCG down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.36%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.89%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.70%, HDFC Bank up by 1.40% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.09%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.99%, Indusind Bank down by 0.59%, SBI down by 0.49%, Tata Steel down by 0.34% and NTPC down by 0.33% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Ministry of Finance in its latest quarterly report on public debt management has showed that total liabilities (including liabilities under the Public Account) of the Government, was Rs 128,41,996 crore at end-December 2021 as against Rs 125,71,747 crore at end-September 2021. This indicates a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.15 per cent in Q3 FY22.

The report further noted that public debt accounted for 91.60 per cent of total outstanding liabilities at end-December 2021 as against 91.48 per cent at end-September 2021. Nearly 29.94 per cent of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years.

As per the report, the yields on Government securities hardened in the secondary market due to increase in supply of G-secs during the quarter like in first and second quarter of FY22. However, the yields were supported by decision of MPC to keep the Policy repo rate unchanged at 4 percent, to continue with accommodative stance during the Q3 FY22.

The CNX Nifty ended at 17325.30, up by 103.30 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 17235.70 and 17343.65. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.22%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.39%, Divi's Lab up by 3.28%, JSW Steel up by 3.26% and HDFC up by 3.05%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 7.04%, ONGC down by 3.03%, Coal India down by 2.75%, Indian Oil Corp. down by 1.38% and ITC down by 0.95% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 61.61 points or 0.82% to 7,534.75, France’s CAC increased 102.77 points or 1.56% to 6,691.88 and Germany’s DAX was up by 168.95 points or 1.17% to 14,586.32.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday as a new round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine began in Turkey, which raised expectations of progress in ending a war that has devolved into a violent attrition battle. Japanese shares gained after the BOJ vowed to defend a key yield cap, offering to buy unlimited government bonds for the first four days of this week in the face of growing inflationary pressures. However, Chinese shares declined as a tightening Covid-19 lockdown in China’s financial hub Shanghai weighed on growth outlook for the world’s second-largest economy. Meanwhile, State-owned Securities Times indicated that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) could reduce bank reserve requirements to support credit expansion and boost economic growth.