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Markets end Wednesday's trading session on positive note
Mar-27-2024

Indian equity benchmarks ended Wednesday's trading session on a positive note, backed by strong gains in Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Industrials stocks. Markets opened gap up and continued to inch higher throughout the day as traders took encouragement with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stating that India's current account deficit declined to $10.5 billion or 1.2 per cent of the GDP in October-December quarter of current fiscal from $11.4 billion in the previous three months and $16.8 billion a year back. Some optimism also came with Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that various initiatives from the government and growing investment are going to create more job opportunities during the decade. 

Sentiments remained up-beat in afternoon deals, taking support from Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India’s statement that India's engineering exports to Russia doubled to $1.22 billion till February during the 2023-24 fiscal. It said the shipments to the country stood at $616.68 million in the previous fiscal. Some solace came as S&P Global Ratings stated that India's financial system regulator, the RBI, is showing serious commitment to improving governance and transparency in the sector. The recent measures by the RBI will curtail lenders' over-exuberance, enhance compliance culture, and safeguard customers, but the drawback will be higher capital costs for institutions. Traders also took a note of Fitch Ratings’ report that the profitability of Indian banks is likely to continue to improve, although net interest margin (NIM) compression will limit earnings upside over the medium term. It also said banks’ rising funding costs are likely to remain an important factor driving NIMs, but it is expected that earnings will be resilient despite the sector’s dependence on net interest income, which contributed 75 per cent of total operating income in the first nine months of the financial year ending March 2024. 

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green ahead of the euro-zone consumer and economic sentiment data for March due out later in the day, and the all-important U.S. personal expenditure consumption data on Friday. Asian markets settled mostly lower on Wednesday, as traders continued to be cautious and looked ahead to key U.S. and European inflation readings later in the week and comments from central bank officials for additional clues on the interest rate outlook. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 526.01 points or 0.73% to 72,996.31 and the CNX Nifty was up by 118.95 points or 0.54% to 22,123.65. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 73,138.73 and 72,600.73 respectively. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.00%, Consumer Durables up by 0.98%, Industrials up by 0.97%, Realty up by 0.93% and Power up by 0.67%, while PSU down by 0.58%, IT down by 0.48%, TECK down by 0.40%, Metal down by 0.31% and FMCG down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.60%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.40%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.63%, Titan Company up by 1.52% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.57%, TCS down by 1.02%, HCL Technologies down by 1.02%, SBI down by 0.81% and Nestle down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India has said that India's engineering exports to Russia doubled to $1.22 billion till February during the 2023-24 fiscal. It said the shipments to the country stood at $616.68 million in the previous fiscal.

Further, it stated the exports to the US dipped seven per cent year-on-year to $15.95 billion during this period. In case of China, engineering shipments to that country saw a marginal decline to $2.38 billion from $2.40 billion in the period under review. Exports to the UAE and Australia, with which India had signed an FTA, remained positive.

Till February, shipments to the UAE rose 16 per cent on-year to $5.22 billion, while those to Australia was higher by five per cent at $1.30 billion. Besides, it said cumulative engineering exports during April-February (2023-24) stood at $98.03 billion as against $96.84 billion in the corresponding period a year ago. In the last few months, engineering exports from India have been on a steady growth path. The remarkable performance of the sector in the last three months made it possible for the cumulative exports to record high growth.

EEPC India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said 'as India's current economic performance stabilises, we are hopeful that with the positive turn of tide in global trade, India's exporting community will be able to lift exports to a new high.'

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 22,193.60 and 22,052.85. There were 22 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.49%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.53%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.16%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.72% and Titan Company up by 1.62%. On the flip side, UPL down by 2.07%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.04%, Wipro down by 1.64%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise down by 1.54% and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 1.42% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 11.16 points or 0.14% to 8,195.91 and Germany’s DAX gained 71.09 points or 0.39% to 18,455.44, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 22.77 points or 0.29% to 7,908.19.

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Wednesday, with Hong Kong markets leading regional losses after Alibaba Group Holding is calling off an initial public offering for its Cainiao logistics arm in a surprise move. Chinese markets declined deeply, even after governor of the People's Bank of China had said Chinese property market is showing some positive signs and the impact on the financial system from volatility in the sector has been limited. Meanwhile, investors are cautiously awaiting US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) inflation data as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech due later in the week to gauge the potential timing of monetary easing. Although, Japanese shares gained while the yen hit a 34-year low against the dollar after Bank of Japan board member Naoki Tamura said short-term interest rates would remain near zero for the time being, even as the Japanese central bank ending negative interest rates last week.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

2,993.14

-38.34

-1.28

Hang Seng

16,392.84

-225.48

-1.38

Jakarta Composite

7,310.09

-55.57

-0.76

KLSE Composite

1,530.60

-7.82

-0.51

Nikkei 225

40,762.73

364.70

0.89

Straits Times

3,251.71

18.38

0.57

KOSPI Composite

2,755.11

-1.98

-0.07

Taiwan Weighted

20,200.12

73.63

0.36
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