The Indian stock market is expected to open in the green as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the index in India with a 114 points gain.
The BSE Sensex fell 627.43 points, or 1.25 percent, to 49,509.15 on March 31 while the Nifty50 declined 154.40 points, or 1.04 percent, to 14,690.70.
According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,636, followed by 14,581.3. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,779.6 and 14,868.5.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:
US Markets
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on Wednesday, boosted by gains in technology shares, and the three major Wall Street indexes registered their fourth straight quarterly rise as investors positioned themselves for President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure plan.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.41 points, or 0.26%, to 32,981.55, the S&P 500 gained 14.34 points, or 0.36%, to 3,972.89 and the Nasdaq Composite added 201.48 points, or 1.54%, to 13,246.87.
Asian Markets
Asian stocks were set to edge higher early on Thursday after big tech rallied on Wall Street and as President Joe Biden announced a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure investment plan.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.28% in early trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures rose 0.81%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.10%.
SGX Nifty
Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the index in India with a 114 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 14,860 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.
Japan's March factory activity grows at faster pace on demand recovery: PMI
Japan’s factory activity expanded at a faster pace in March, as an uptick in orders pushed up output levels, with firms seeing demand recover further from the pain of the coronavirus pandemic at home and abroad.
The final au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.7 in March from the previous month’s 51.4 reading.
India records current account deficit of 0.2% in December quarter
India's current account swung to a deficit for the first time in the current fiscal, with the gap coming at $1.7 billion or 0.2 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter.
In the current fiscal, as the pandemic impacted trade, the current account had been in surplus in the previous two quarters, at $15.1 billion and $19 billion, respectively, as per the data on balance of payments released by the RBI on Wednesday. The critical measure of a country's external strength now stands at a surplus of 1.7 per cent of GDP for the first nine months of the fiscal year as against a deficit of 1.2 per cent in the year-ago period.
Government announces Rs 14,500-crore capital infusion in 4 PSBs
The government on March 31 announced capital infusion totalling Rs 14,500 crore in four public sector banks (PSBs) through zero-coupon bonds. With this, the government has completed capital infusion in PSBs for this fiscal.
These non-interest bearing bonds have been issued to the Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India and UCO Bank. The government will infuse Rs 4,800 crore in Central Bank of India, Rs 4,100 crore in Indian Overseas Bank, Rs 3,000 crore in Bank of India and Rs 2,600 crore in UCO Bank.
Rising global commodity prices to take a toll on Indian economy: Ind-Ra
India Ratings and Research on March 31 said the rising global commodity prices would affect the retail and wholesale inflation differently leading to policy implications.
"Ind-Ra opines that the differentiated playout of headline retail and wholesale inflation in response to the surge in global commodity prices over the past six months will have policy implications. Though commodity prices in the past three weeks have witnessed some easing, they are still significantly higher than September 2020 levels. This firming up of global commodity prices would mean a rise in input prices and/or margin pressure for the production sector.," the agency said.
Eight core industries' output falls at fastest pace in 6-months, down 4.6% in February
The combined output of the eight core sector industries fell at the fastest pace in 6-months, contracting 4.6 percent in February, from a year ago, confirming fears that a recovery in industrial growth would be slower than expected.
Core sector output had seen a slow but steady rise over the previous two months, rising by 0.9 percent in January. But after posting contraction in 8 of the first 11-months of the year, the cumulative core sector output in the April-February period of FY21 fell to -8.3 percent. As compared to this, it had witnessed a 1.3 percent rise in the corresponding period of the previous year.
India's April-February fiscal deficit at 76% of FY21 revised estimates
The Centre's fiscal deficit for April-February 2021 came in 76 per cent of the 2020-21 revised estimates of Rs 18.49 lakh crore, official data showed on March 31. The April-February 2021 fiscal gap stands at 14.06 lakh crores against 10.37 lakh crores on year-on-year basis. While the February fiscal deficit stands at 1.72 lakh crore versus Rs 51,013 crore on a YoY basis.
Among other details, the Finance Ministry said that the April to February 2021 revenue gap stood at Rs 10.43 lakh crore versus Rs 7.83 lakh crore (YoY). For February alone, the revenue deficit stood at Rs 1.31 lakh crore versus 32,400 crore (YoY).
Government gives Monetary Policy Committee unchanged inflation target till FY26
The headline inflation target for the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee has been kept unchanged at 4(+/-2) percent for the next five years, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on March 31.
While the official gazette notification is still awaited, this means that the MPC now has the mandate to take steps under monetary policy and inflation targeting frameworks to keep consumer price index-based inflation in the 2-6 per cent range from 2021-22 till 2025-26.
"The inflation target from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026, under the Reserve Bank of India Act, has been kept at the same level as it was for previous five years. There is no change," Bajaj said at the end of his media briefing on the centre's borrowing plans for April-September.
Sebi slaps Rs 35 lakh fine on entities, individuals for manipulative trading activities
Sebi on Wednesday slapped a total penalty of Rs 35 lakh on three entities and four individuals for indulging in manipulative trading activities in the scrip of Partani Appliances Ltd (PAL). A fine of Rs 5 lakh each has been imposed on them.
The income tax department had forwarded a list of some scrips, including that of PAL, being traded on the stock exchange, in which there was allegedly price manipulation to generate bogus long term capital gains. Thereafter, an investigation was carried out by Sebi for alleged price manipulation in the scrip of PAL during October 20, 2014 to March 31, 2015 period.
Govt to borrow Rs 7.24 lakh crore between April and September
The central government will borrow Rs 7.24 lakh crore in the first six months of 2021-22, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on March 31. This is about 60.06 percent of the full-year gross borrowing target of Rs 12.05 lakh crore, he said.
For the current financial year (2020-21), the gross borrowing estimate was revised to Rs 12.8 lakh crore as against the budget estimate of Rs 7.8 lakh crore.
However, while announcing the gross borrowing for April-September 2021-22, Bajaj said the Centre has borrowed a record gross Rs 13.70 lakh crore in 2020-21, while net borrowing was Rs 11.43 lakh crore.
Oil falls as fresh lockdowns, demand concerns weigh on OPEC+
Oil prices fell about 2% on Wednesday as fresh lockdowns in Europe stoked fuel consumption fears and a pessimistic demand outlook from OPEC and its allies ahead of their meeting to decide on production curbs.
Brent crude for May, which expired on Wednesday, settled at $63.54 a barrel, down 60 cents, or 0.9%. The more active contract for June ended $1.43, or 2.2%, lower at $62.74. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures closed at $59.16 a barrel, losing $1.39, or 2.3%.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,685.91 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 2,081.52 crore in the Indian equity market on March 31, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
1 stock under F&O ban on NSE
SAIL is under the F&O ban for April 1. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.
With inputs from Reuters & other agencies