Post Session: Quick Review

Monday turned out to be fabulous day for Indian equity benchmarks, as both Sensex and Nifty ended with strong gains of over 2%. After a positive start, markets remained under a grip of bulls, as Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said India is on the cusp of a major economic recovery and talks of possible stagflation are overhyped as a strong economic foundation is being laid with the reforms carried out by the government over the last seven years. Adding more optimism, the Finance Ministry said Gross GST collection in March touched an all-time high of over Rs 1.42 trillion.

Some support also came in as the Commerce and Industry Ministry said India's merchandise exports spurt to a record high of $418 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal on higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, gem and jewellery and chemicals. Sentiments remained upbeat with Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) monthly time series data revealed that unemployment rate in the country is decreasing with the economy slowly returning to normal. It said the overall unemployment rate in India was 8.10 per cent in February 2022, which fell to 7.6 per cent in March.

Firm trade continued over the Dalal Street during the trading session, as CRISIL Ratings said that India Inc performance based on credit ratings improved sharply in the second half of the financial year 2021-22 on the back of sustained improvement in demand, secular deleveraging by debt issuers, and proactive relief measures by the government. The CRISIL Ratings credit ratio 1 (upgrades to downgrades) increased to 5.04 times in the second half (H2) of fiscal 2022, compared with 2.96 times in the first half (H1), underscoring continuing improvement in the performance of India Inc.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red with investors keeping an eye out for more Western sanctions after Ukraine accused Russia of war crimes. Asian markets settled mostly higher, even after Indonesia's consumer price inflation accelerated in March after easing in the previous month. The data from the statistics bureau showed that consumer prices rose 2.64 percent year-on-year in March, following a 2.06 percent increase in February. Core inflation was 2.37 percent in March.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60611.74, up by 1335.05 points or 2.25% after trading in a range of 59760.22 and 60845.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.27%, while Small cap index up by 1.68%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 3.45%, Power up by 3.00%, Utilities up by 2.93%, Metal up by 2.04% and Capital Goods up by 1.79%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 9.97%, HDFC up by 9.30%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.32%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.24% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.05% and Titan Co down by 0.20% were only losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Indian manufacturing activity eased in the month of March, on the account of slower expansions in factory orders and production as well as a renewed decline in new export orders. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 54.0 in March from 54.9 in February.

As per the report, goods producers indicated that new orders continued to increase in March. The rate of expansion eased to a six-month low, but remained marked. The latest report showed a broad stabilisation in headcounts across the manufacturing industry, following three successive months of job shedding. Companies commonly indicated that payroll numbers were sufficient to cope with current requirements.

Besides, there was a renewed decline in new export orders received by Indian goods producers, ending an eight-month sequence of growth. However, the overall rate of reduction was only modest. March data pointed to subdued optimism towards growth prospects among Indian manufacturers, with the overall level of sentiment slipping to a two-year low.

On the inflation front, manufacturers reported another increase in input prices at the end of fiscal year 2021/22. Chemical, energy, fabric, foodstuff and metal costs were all reportedly greater than in February. The overall rate of inflation quickened and outpaced its long-run average, but was the second-slowest in six months. Output prices rose in March as goods producers sought to share part of the additional cost burden with their clients.

The CNX Nifty ended at 18053.40, up by 382.95 points or 2.17% after trading in a range of 17791.40 and 18114.65. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 10.01%, HDFC up by 9.29%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.17%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 3.90% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.34%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.08%, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.22% and Titan Co down by 0.15% were only losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 11.86 points or 0.18% to 6,672.45 and Germany’s DAX was down by 65.84 points or 0.46% to 14,380.64. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.10 points or 0.17% to 7,551.00.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Monday as a solid March jobs report from the United States eased concerns about slowing global growth. Meanwhile, investors shrugged off lingering concerns around the Ukraine crisis and potential interest rate hikes. Ukraine accused Russia of carrying out a massacre in the town of Bucha, and Western nations reacted to images of dead bodies with calls for new sanctions on Russia. Chinese markets were closed for Ching Ming Festival and Taiwan markets were closed for Children's Day.