Post Session: Quick Review

Benchmarks managed to break five-day falling spree in Thursday’s volatile session. Indian markets swung between green and red territory during the day, as investors turned their attention towards how central banks will navigate their paths on future rate hikes. The trade at Dalal Street got dented by the stock belonging to the metal sector. The fluctuations in markets indicated that investors preferred to play safe due to ongoing concerns about turmoil in the financial sector following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, short term debt woes of Swiss Lender Credit Suisse. Investors also awaited a European Central Bank rate decision later in the day. However, indices spent some part of day above neutral line on the hopes of dramatic easing of policy from the world's central banks. Besides, Credit Suisse Group AG said it would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss Francs or around $53.7 billion from the Swiss National Bank to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity provided support to local markets.

Initially, markets made negative start following weak US markets overnight on worries of more bank failures. Besides, commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's Merchandise exports dipped by 8.8 per cent to $33.88 billion in February 2023 as compared to $37.15 billion in the same month last year due to a slowdown in global demand. Further, in volatile trading session, markets erased losses and turned positive as traders found support with IMF senior representative to India Luis Breuer stating that the RBI was doing the right thing on rate hikes, and added that there was need for more. In afternoon session, indices slipped in red once again but managed to recoup losses to end in green territory on eve of weekly F&O expiry.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher after the Swiss National Bank said it would provide a liquidity backstop to beleaguered bank Credit Suisse. All Asian markets ended lower as concerns grew about the health of the global banking system. Back home, commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's imports from Russia jumped about five times to $41.56 billion during the April-February period of this fiscal due to increasing volume of crude oil shipments from Russia to India. In 2021-22, Russia was India's 18th largest import partner, with imports totaling $9.86 billion.

The BSE Sensex ended at 57,634.84, up by 78.94 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 57,158.69 and 57,887.46. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.69%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.20%, Power up by 1.13%, Oil & Gas up by 1.08%, Realty up by 1.00%, FMCG up by 0.99%, while Metal down by 2.69%, IT down by 0.73%, TECK down by 0.57%, Industrials down by 0.46%, Telecom down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 2.54%, Asian Paints up by 2.32%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.27%, Titan Company up by 2.21% and Sun Pharma up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.31%, Indusind Bank down by 2.31%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.98%, Infosys down by 0.93% and HCL Tech down by 0.53% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with a view to promoting the country's outbound shipments of goods and services, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has said that the government is likely to release the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) by the end of this month. The current foreign trade policy (2015-20) is in force till March 31, 2022.

Barthwal said that the ministry has looked at various aspects of that FTP as the policy is basically the collection of various incentive schemes. They are also adding the aspect of vision into that as the ministry is targeting to take the goods and services exports to $2 trillion by 2030.

He added 'So, within that framework, we have worked out our FTP and we are expecting that it would be released by the end of this month’. FTP provides guidelines for enhancing exports to push economic growth and create jobs. It was first extended on March 31, 2020, for one year due to the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16,985.60, up by 13.45 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 16,850.15 and 17,062.45. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 6.24%, Nestle up by 2.54%, Asian Paints up by 2.33%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.21% and Titan Company up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 5.22%, Tata Steel down by 3.31%, Indusind Bank down by 2.54%, JSW Steel down by 2.54% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.41% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 48.83 points or 0.66% to 7,393.28, France’s CAC rose 34.48 points or 0.5% to 6,920.19 and Germany’s DAX was up by 76.4 points or 0.52% to 14,811.66.

Asian markets settled lower on Thursday tracking mixed US shares overnight due to concerns over the health of the global banking system after the recent collapse of two US banks, while investors were cautious ahead of next week´s Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Chinese shares declined after reports suggesting that China's securities regulator is holding up approvals for new applications to sell global depository receipts. Japanese shares dropped in spite of positive core machinery orders and trade balance data.