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Post Session: Quick Review
Mar-19-2019

Bulls which emerged in last leg of trade helped markets to extend their winning streak for seventh straight day, with frontline gauges surpassing their crucial 11,500 (Nifty) and 38,300 (Sensex) levels. Markets started the session on positive note as traders took some support with a report that the net direct tax collection figure has crossed the Rs 10 lakh crore mark as on March 16, helped by the fourth and final installment of tax payment. The entire advance tax data from across the country has not come yet. The net direct tax collection during April-January of this fiscal stood at Rs 7.89 lakh crore as against Rs 12 lakh crore targeted for the entire fiscal of 2018-19. But, gains remain capped and markets traded in tight band for most part of the day as market participants remained on sidelines ahead of the outcome of the 34th GST Council meeting . Traders also remained anxious with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that India cannot achieve 9-10% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth without revolution in the farm sector. He said there is a need to boost investment in the agriculture sector as well as to introduce new technology and market reforms.

It was the last leg of trade which helped markets to end near intraday high levels as traders took encouragement with report that an RBI-appointed panel sought suggestions from the public on long-term solutions for economic and financial sustainability of MSME sector, including ways to improve credit rating mechanism to help them raise funds at competitive rates. Meanwhile, the government has constituted an inter-ministerial panel for monitoring, sanctioning and implementation of projects under the Rs 10,000-crore FAME-II programme, aimed at incentivising clean mobility.

Firm opening in European counters too aided sentiments with all the major indices trading in green even though UK households' assessment of their financial well-being fell to the lowest level in thirteen months in March. The survey data from the IHS Markit showed that the IHS Markit Household Finance Index, or HFI, fell to 43.3 in March from 43.4 in February, marking the lowest reading since February 2018. Asian markets ended mostly in red ahead of a closely watched meeting by the US Federal Reserve set to kick off later in the day.

Back home, information technology (IT) sector stocks ended higher with ICRA in its latest report stated that the IT services sector is likely to register a growth of 7-9% in next financial year (FY20) mainly on account of demand for digital solutions.  It mentioned that the earlier small-scale proof of concept digital projects has started evolving into enterprise level larger implementations coupled with improvement in discretionary spend supporting future growth. Shares of public sector banks (PSBs) surged for the third straight day after rating agencies upgraded the ratings of the select banks on improvement in their solvency following government's capital infusion. However, shares of automobiles companies ended lower for the second straight day on concerns of production cut due to slower demand. 

The BSE Sensex ended at 38375.41, up by 280.34 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 38078.23 and 38396.06. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.46%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.67%, Energy up by 1.62%, PSU up by 1.33%, TECK up by 1.25% and FMCG was up by 1.21%, while Capital Goods down by 0.61%, Auto down by 0.60%, Industrials down by 0.21%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.14% and Metal down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.57%, HCL Tech up by 2.41%, Infosys up by 2.15%, Reliance Industries up by 2.11% and NTPC up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.04%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.44%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.25%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.83% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.77% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to expand India-Africa bilateral trade, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has said India and Africa should try to forge free trade pact or preferential trade agreement. Prabhu said ‘Please think about a free trade agreement between Africa and India. We can think about a preferential trade agreement...and the fundamental principle would be how Africa will benefit first and India later’. The India-Africa trade stands at $62 billion. India mainly exports pharmaceuticals, engineering and electronic products to Africa and imports natural resources and diamonds.

He further said that India received record Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the last fiscal, and the country's outbound investment flows are also increasing. Africa will be the preferred destination for Indian investments. In the last financial year (FY18), India's exports to Africa were valued at $24 billion, whereas India's imports from Africa were at $38 billion.

Besides, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said the balance of trade is in favour of Africa. He stated there is a huge potential to expand India-Africa bilateral trade flow, towards which India should look to geographically diversify its ties with African countries, as also diversify the bilateral trade basket.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11539.90, up by 77.70 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 11451.25 and 11543.85. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.84%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.80%, Infosys up by 2.20%, ITC up by 2.09% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.66%, JSW Steel down by 2.29%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.04%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.37% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.35% were the top losers. (Provisional)

All the European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 25.95 points or 0.36% to 7,325.14, France’s CAC gained 17.75 points or 0.33% to 5,430.58 and Germany’s DAX was up by 77.26 points or 0.66% to 11,734.32.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday as investors awaited US Federal Reserve and other major central banks meetings outcome later in the week. The US Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting later in the day, while the Bank of England (BoE) announces its interest-rate decision on Thursday. In Asia, central banks in Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand all have monetary policy meetings this week. Chinese shares ended lower on profit taking after recent string of gains on hopes for continued government support to boost growth. Further, Japanese shares closed down as the yen firmed up against the dollar ahead of the Fed and BoE meetings this week.

Asian Indices

Last Trade           

Change in Points

Change in %

Shanghai Composite

3,090.98
-5.44
-0.18

Hang Seng

29,466.28
57.27
0.19

Jakarta Composite

6,480.28
-29.17
-0.45

KLSE Composite

1,687.68

-3.26

-0.19

Nikkei 225

21,566.85
-17.65
-0.08

Straits Times

3,220.92
7.96
0.25

KOSPI Composite

2,177.62
-1.87
-0.09

Taiwan Weighted

10,512.32
-0.38
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