Nifty 8907/Sensex 28761/ Bank Nifty 20860
31 Advances / 20 Declines/ 0 Unchanged
Indian benchmarks manage to end higher; Sensex slams century
Indian benchmark indices carried forward their northbound journey for yet another session on Tuesday on sustained buying by funds and retail investors ahead of February series F&O expiry on Thursday.
Sentiments got a boost with report that yearly SBI Composite Index (year-on-year) for February 2017 improving to 49.5 compared to last month’s index of 47.0, indicating some improvement in sentiments. The monthly Index though declined marginally to 49.2 in February 2017 from 50.9 in January 2017, which means IIP growth may continue to contract in January and February 2017.
Some support also came with the report that the government hopes to overshoot the Rs 45,500 crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal amid strengthening of equity markets. However, gains remained capped with the rating agency ICRA’s report indicating that the economy based on the gross value added (GVA) is set to slip to 6.2% in the December quarter from 6.9% a year ago and GDP growth will decline to 6.5% from 7.2%.
The slippages will be driven by the slowdown in growth of the industry and services, offsetting the healthy agricultural expansion during the period. Furthermore, a private report indicated India's growth momentum witnessed a recovery in January but it is not broad-based and overall economic activity remains below pre-demonetization levels. The slowdown that started in the October-December quarter of 2016, post demonetization is spilling over into the first quarter of 2017 (January-March).
Meanwhile, some steel stocks gained traction as the government has extended anti-dumping duty on import of certain steel products from China for five years with an aim to protect domestic players from the cheap shipments. The levy has been imposed in the range of $961.33 - 1,610.67.
Furthermore, Telecom stocks slipped as Reliance Jio's free data offer has hit rivals, raising concerns about competition and margins in the sector. Jio has launched the new Jio Prime subscription plan that offers the same free data and other services, customers have received as part of the Happy New Year plan for another 12 months at Rs 303 per month.
On the global front, Asian equity markets ended mixed on Tuesday as investors looked ahead of key US Federal Reserve events, including minutes of the last policy meeting and speeches by five heads of Fed regional banks. Japanese stocks edged higher as the yen eased back against the dollar, although trading volumes were low as a holiday in the United States left investors short of the usual leads, while Chinese stocks rose as domestic funds piled into financial counters on expectations the world's second biggest economy may have turned a corner. Meanwhile, European markets edged up in early trade as poor results from HSBC weighed on sentiment in London, but positive euro zone data supported equities on the Old Continent. IHS Markit’s February PMI gauge of eurozone manufacturing activity came in at 56.0, compared with a 54.3 estimate from FactSet.
Back home, Indian markets got off to a soft start as the indices showed signs of consolidation in early trade, lacking any significant trigger at domestic front. However, the indices drifted into the negative zone in mid morning trades and slipped to intraday lows in early noon session. Thereafter, the frontline indices slowly but steadily started gathering steam and surged by over quarter percent by the end of trade.
FII Activity (21th Feb 2017)
The FIIs as per Monday’s data were net buyers in equity and debt segments both, according to data released by the NSDL.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 13274.72 crore against gross selling of Rs 5215.43 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net buyers of Rs 8059.29 crore in equities.
In the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 487.71 crore with gross sales of Rs 437.32 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net buyers of Rs 50.39 crore in debt.
Now what to expect next??
Nifty Future Levels
Support at 8780—8720 and Resistance at 8980—9050
Looks positive and could touch its resistance level of 8980—9050, further upside rally will see on close above 9050 mark else could touch its support level of 8780—8720 again.
Looks weak only on close below 8720.
Bank Nifty Future Levels
Support at 20400 and resistance at 20900.
Break and sustain above 20900 will take it to 21050---21300+ mark else could touch its support level of 20400 again.
Looks weak below 20400 only.
More will update soon!!
