Benchmarks end higher for second straight session on Tuesday

Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for second straight session on Tuesday led by market heavyweights HDFC, Bharti Airtel and Ultratech Cement amid positive cues in the global market. Solid decline in crude oil prices and ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine boosted market sentiments. Markets made optimistic start and stayed in green for whole day, as traders took encouragement as Commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the free trade agreement between India and the UAE has opened huge opportunities and businesses of both countries should look at taking the bilateral trade to $250 billion by 2030. Some support also came in as 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.

Key indices added gains in late afternoon deals, taking support from Crisil Ratings’ report stated 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. Traders overlooked 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. Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be compelled to signal a neutral policy stance in the Monetary Policy Committee’s review meeting in April as average consumer inflation is likely to stay firm at 5.4 per cent in FY23. It added the RBI will likely raise the repo rate by at least 50-75 basis points through fiscal year 2023, and by another 50 basis points in fiscal 2024.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the latest round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul with a speech. Russia appeared to be de-emphasizing ground operations near Kyiv and concentrating more on the Donbas region. European markets were trading higher amid hopes for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. Investors shrugged off results of a closely-watched survey showing that Germany's consumer confidence is set to weaken more than expected in April, hurt significantly by the war in Ukraine. Back home, Defence industry stocks were in limelight as the government said that a total of Rs 3,343 crore has been received as foreign direct investment (FDI) in the defence sector since 2014. There was some reaction in aviation industry stocks as Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said airports across India will see 33.81 crore passengers in 2022-23, 69.35 per cent more than the current financial year. Coal industry stocks were in focus as ICRA said the price of imported coal is poised to rise by 45-55 per cent in the first quarter of FY23 as markets face supply disruption following the Russia-Ukraine conflict and it would severely impact domestic users of imported dry fuel.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 350.16 points or 0.61% to 57,943.65 and the CNX Nifty was up by 103.30 points or 0.60% to 17,325.30.     

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 58,001.53 and 57,639.35, respectively. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.  

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

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 Finance up by 0.90%, 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.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.06%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.89%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.70%, Sun Pharma up by 1.62% and HDFC Bank up by 1.40%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.99%, Indusind Bank down by 0.59%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.52%, SBI down by 0.49% and Tata Steel down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal has stated that the free trade agreement between India and the UAE has opened huge opportunities and noted that businesses of both countries should look at taking the bilateral trade to $250 billion by 2030. He added that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed by India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February and is expected to come into force from May 1.

He said ‘We should reset our goals and look for much much broader canvas in which this partnership should work and possibly look at going up to $250 billion between UAE and India by 2030’. Under the pact, domestic exporters of as many as 6,090 goods from sectors like textiles, agriculture, dry fruits, gem and jewellery would get duty-free access to the UAE market.

He also said that India is looking at increasing exports in goods and services to $2 trillion and the UAE would play a key role in achieving that target. He said that the UAE is a door for tapping other markets from Europe and Africa. Talking about India’s goods exports, he said it would cross $410 billion by end of this fiscal. Services exports too are doing great and these may reach $250 billion by end of the current fiscal.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,343.65 and 17,235.70. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.50%, HDFC up by 3.30%, Divi's Lab up by 3.25%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 3.15% and JSW Steel up by 2.89%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 6.68%, ONGC down by 3.03%, Coal India down by 2.67%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.13% and ITC down by 1.07% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 97.39 points or 1.3% to 7,570.53, France’s CAC increased 165.43 points or 2.51% to 6,754.54 and Germany’s DAX increased 280.68 points or 1.95% to 14,698.05.

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.