Nifty 8924/Sensex 28901/ Bank Nifty 20676
19 Advances / 32 Declines/ 0 Unchanged
Indian benchmarks end a lacklustre session with modest cut; Nifty settles above 8900 mark
Indian benchmarks indices extended the sorrow of closing in the red territory for the second consecutive session on Wednesday as caution prevailed ahead of the exit poll results due tomorrow for the ongoing assembly elections.
State elections results, including that of Uttar Pradesh, which will have a key influence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chances of clinching a second term in 2019, is to be revealed on Saturday. Sentiments remained subdued on the report that sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), considered one of the stickiest foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), are reducing bets on Indian equities. The share of SWFs in the total FPI holding in India shrank to 6% in January compared with 10.4% in July 2016. The AUM of the SWFs stood at Rs 1.4 lakh crore at the end of January, while total FPI AUM was at Rs 21.51 lakh crore. Furthermore, investors also remained nervous with the report that Consumer price inflation is likely to rise in February for the first time since demonetization and this could prompt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike rates much sooner than most expect.
However, downside remained capped with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that his government has been able to tame inflation which had gone out of control before 2014 and no political party could raise the issue during the polls in five states. PM cited examples of how different organisations around the world including the World Bank, IMF and others have appreciated the demonetisation move. Meanwhile, sugar stocks came under selling pressure after the report that India’s sugar output will fall 19% this season due to poor crop yields in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the country’ output in the 2016-17 season beginning October would be about 20.3 million tonnes, compared with 25.1 million tonnes in the earlier season. Further, some pharma stocks slipped after US President Donald Trump's tweet about lowering drug prices. Trump said he was working on a new system to increase competition in the drugs industry and bring down prices. On the other hand, Aviation stocks gained traction on the reports that the Delhi government will cut tax of air turbine fuel (ATF) to 1% from 25% in a bid to boost connectivity between the capital and northeast areas.
On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday, as investors turned jittery after Wall Street logged first consecutive sessions of declines in more than a month in anticipation that US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next week. The Federal Reserve has a policy meeting on March 14-15 and markets are expecting a rate hike after recent hawkish comments by policymakers. However, investors got some comfort with the report that China's imports advanced 44.7% year-on-year in February, much bigger than the forecast of 23.1% while exports grew only 4.2% in yuan terms versus a 14.6% annual rise economists had forecast. As a result, the trade balance showed a deficit of CNY 60.4 billion in February compared to the expected surplus of CNY 172.5 billion. Separate data from the People's Bank of China revealed that China's foreign exchange reserves unexpectedly increased by $7 billion to $3.0 trillion in February, marking the first increase in eight months. Meanwhile, European markets were trading in red as investors prepared for a key budget statement from the U.K. government but found solid support from corporate and economic data from Germany.
Back home, after getting a feeble start, the local benchmarks slipped into lower levels in late morning session, but trim some of their losses by the end of the trading day.
FII Activity (08th March 2017)
The FIIs as per Wednesday’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 4853.97 crore against gross selling of Rs 3965.24 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net buyers of Rs 888.73 crore in equities.
In the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 265.04 crore with gross sales of Rs 59.13 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net buyers of Rs 205.91 crore in debt.
Now what to expect next??
Nifty Future Levels
Support at 8870 and Resistance at 8980—9050
Trading in range, either side breakout with volume will decide further.
Wait for confirmation
Bank Nifty Future Levels
Support at 20500 and resistance at 21025
Too trading in range, either side breakout with volumes will decide further traders can trade in range with strict stop loss.
Trade in a range with levels only.
More will update soon!!
