PremiumIndian indices on Friday ended in the green for the fourth consecutive day even as both Sensex and Nifty50 gyrated between gains and losses. The markets witnessed volatility as crude prices declined and US inflation in February soared. The Sensex added 85 points, while Nifty50 rose 35 points. The broader markets remained in the green as MidCap added 0.45% and SmallCap was up 0.90%. In Asia, shares in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong declined at close, while Shanghai made marginal gains in Friday's session.
Indian indices edged marginally higher on Friday for the fourth straight day amid high volatility, tracking mixed global cues. The crude price remained stable on Friday, while the inflation in US rose in February to a 40-year high.
The Sensex added 85.91 points, or 0.15%, to close at 55,550.30, while Nifty50 gained 35.55 points, or 0.21%, to end at 16,630.45.
Major markets in Asia and the US edged lower on Friday.
The Sensex started the day with over 200 points of loss at 55,218.78 points, while Nifty50 opened the day in the red at 16,528.80 points and slipped to a low of 16,470.90 points in the morning trade.
The Sensex had gained 817 points or 1.5% on Thursday.
All the sectors including pharma, realty, power, oil & gas, metals, FMCG made gains, while IT and auto firms languished. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended in the green.
On the 30-stock index, the most gains were made by Sun Pharma, DRL, ITC, among others, while Nestle India, Maruti, and NTPC made losses.
On Nifty50, Cipla, BPCL, Sun Pharma made the biggest gains, while Nestle, Maruti, and Tata Consumers dragged.
Prestige shares have been under selloff heat after climbing to its life-time high of ₹554.90 levels on NSE. However, the stock has bottomed out and bouncing back from around ₹410 levels. According HDFC Securities, Prestige shares are in strong demand zone right now and one should add this stock in one's portfolio at around ₹425 levels for 3 months target of ₹491, around 15 per cent upside.
Automobile sales winessed a 23% drop in the month of February as supply-side shocks and chip shortage continued to hurt demand. Added to that is the rise in vehicle prices, automakers continued to reel under pressure, according to industry body SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers).
One of the largest local Indian funds is turning bullish on the country’s equities just as foreign investors are exiting Indian stocks at a record pace.
Titan Company Ltd. on Friday said it has picked up a 17.5% stake in lab-grown diamond maker Great Heights Inc., USA, for an estimated $20 million through its subsidiary TCL North America Inc. The “strategic" investment will provide Titan a ring-side view of the fast-growing lab grown diamond and direct-to-consumer segments, the company said.
The board of Dish TV India has proposed the appointment of Rajagopal Chakravarthi Venkateish as a nominee director, days after shareholders rejected the re-appointment of director Ashok Kurien.
Global brokerage Morgan Stanley's Ridham Desai has lowered its year-end Sensex target to 62,000 from 70,000 earlier, however, sees the index to rise to 75,000 in its bull case scenario.
Tata group firm Titan Company on Friday said its subsidiary has inked a pact to acquire 17.5 per cent voting rights in US-based Great Heights Inc for USD 20 million (around ₹152 crore).
Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corp. (LIC) has released its financial results for the December quarter (Q3FY22), ahead of its planned IPO. According to the insurer's website, net profit rose to ₹235 crore in the third quarter as against a meagre ₹94 lakh in the same period last year.
ICICI Bank on Friday announced that the private lender has signed an agreement on March 10, 2022 for investment in National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL). NARCL is an asset reconstruction company, which was incorporated on July 7, 2021.
The rupee advanced 16 paise to 76.27 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Friday, supported by positive domestic equities and a pullback in crude oil prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.34 against the US dollar, then gained momentum and touched 76.27, registering a gain of 16 paise from the previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee had appreciated by 19 paise to close at 76.43 against the US dollar.
Research house Jefferies India Pvt Ltd remains upbeat on Thermax Ltd. In its latest report, Jefferies pointed out that a change in business model of Thermax points to strong earnings recovery, so it has maintained its 'buy' recommendation on the stock.
One of the fallouts of the Russia-Ukraine conflicts has been the spike in prices of various commodities, including aluminium. So far in the calendar year 2022 (till 10 March), aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange have surged by 20%.
Sharing the price trends of specialty chemicals in January, brokerage house ICICI Securities in a note said that R-22 prices rose to ₹244 per kg in Q4FY22-TD, but volumes were down 81% year-on-year (YoY). This could be partially due to plant shutdown for Gujarat Fluorochemicals, but the brokerage is not worried as companies sell their entire quota allocated for full year.
While FY21/FY22 have been impacted by covid, we see good prospects for >20% premium CAGR in Indian health insurance space till FY30 on the back of: 1) structural under-penetration, 2) increasing consumer awareness and 3) rising affordability. We see STAR well placed to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the same.
Japan's consumer prices likely rose in February at the fastest annual pace in two years, a Reuters poll showed, as rising energy and commodity costs cast a shadow on consumer demand and the country's fragile economic recovery.
But the increase is unlikely to prompt the central bank to dial back stimulus spending programmes, with core consumer inflation still expected to stay well below 2% and the economy lacking momentum, analysts say.
The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI) likely rose 0.6% in February from a year earlier, the median forecast in the poll of 19 economists showed on Friday.
The reading would follow a 0.2% increase in January, and mark the highest since February 2020.
Yesterday Gold was supported from technical support of 1970$ in morning while record high inflation data and failure of talks between Ukraine and Russia supported it in evening.
Technically yesterday's high of around 2010$ is very important resistance for today and if this level is not broken then we can witness 1975 kind of levels while on the contrary it can reach 2029 or 2034 if 2010 is broken in spot.
It has bounced yesterday exactly from 9 days EMA and at any point of time if this level gets broken then metal may try to find out support near 1946 & 1935.
6 stocks to buy or sell today — 11th March
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin plunged back below $39,000, erasing gains sparked after US President Joe Biden’s executive order on crypto, as digital tokens fell with stocks on Thursday amid high inflation data and continued geopolitical uncertainty. Bitcoin price today were trading over 5% lower at $38,655. The world's most popular and largest cryptocurrency is down about 16% in 2022 (year-to-date or YTD) so far.
Indian sugar mills signed contracts to export 550,000 tonnes of the sweetener in recent days, as surging global prices and a weak rupee made overseas sales lucrative, four dealers told Reuters.
Oil is heading for the biggest weekly decline since November, taking a breather after a period of wild trading and a surge in prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Futures in New York fell below $106 a barrel on Friday and are down almost 9% this week after the market was rocked by news of the U.S. ban on Russian crude imports and what looked to be the first signs of OPEC+ disunity. In two of the four trading sessions this week, Brent oil has swung by the most on record -- with intraday swings eclipsing $20 a barrel.
The fallout from the war has rippled through commodity markets from wheat to key fuels such as gasoline and diesel, increasing inflationary pressure around the world. Rystad Energy predicted Brent could soar to an eye-watering $240 a barrel this summer if countries continue to sanction Russian oil imports.
Sovereign bonds sold off in Australia and New Zealand after U.S. inflation accelerated to a fresh 40-year high, underscoring global concerns that price pressures were getting out of hand even before oil spiked higher.
New Zealand 10-year yields rose five basis points to top 3% for the first time since June 2018, while similar-dated Australian yields rose by the same amount to reach 2.42%. Data out Friday in Wellington showed New Zealand food prices soared in February at fastest annual pace since 2011.
Treasury yields have surged more than 20 basis points across the curve this week while there have been even steeper increases for some European markets, were the impact on energy costs from the war in Ukraine is likely to be most acute. The European Central Bank’s unexpected decision to accelerate the wind-down of its asset-purchase program also spooked investors.
The dollar hit a new five-year high on the yen on Friday after a strong U.S. inflation report, while the euro struggled to hold its own as a hawkish turn from the European Central Bank was offset by growth risks emanating from the Ukraine crisis.
The greenback rose as high as 116.39 yen in early trade, its best level since January 2017, while sterling was beaten down at $1.3089, having tumbled 0.8% overnight to a 16 month-low.
Wall Street resumed its slide on Thursday, ending in the red as inflation hit a four-decade high, cementing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would hike key interest rates at the conclusion of next week's monetary policy meeting to prevent the economy from overheating.
Looming uncertainties surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine also helped convince market participants to recommence their flight to safety.
While all three major indexes ended in the red, they pared their losses late in the day and closed well above session lows, as the U.S. equities market followed its best day in months on Wednesday by renewing a multi-session sell-off.
Amazon.com provided one of the day's bright spots, its shares jumping 5.4% after the e-commerce giant announced a 20-for-1 stock split and a $10 billion share buyback.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 112.18 points, or 0.34%, to 33,174.07, the S&P 500 lost 18.36 points, or 0.43%, to 4,259.52 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 125.58 points, or 0.95%, to 13,129.96.
Six the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 closed in negative territory with tech suffered the biggest percentage drop, while energy shares saw the largest gain.
Global share markets slid on Thursday as U.S. inflation hit almost 8%, making it almost certain the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week, and the European Central Bank sped up the end of its massive stimulus program.
Data showed U.S. consumer inflation running at a 7.9% annualized clip in February, the largest annual increase in 40 years.
Wall Street fell on the data because, while markets expect the central bank to raise the Fed funds target rate by 25 basis points at the conclusion of next week's monetary policy meeting, the CPI data suggested the FOMC could move "more aggressively" to curb inflation, as promised by Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week.
Asian equities fell Friday, following declines on Wall Street as the fastest inflation in 40 years drove U.S. bond yields higher and raised expectations for steeper interest-rate hikes.
Stocks in Japan and Australia slid and futures pointed to a weaker open for Hong Kong. U.S. contracts were little changed after a selloff Thursday. The Nasdaq 100 took the brunt the war in Ukraine showed no sign of easing, weighing on sentiment, though the S&P 500 closed off the day’s lows.
Oil pared overnight losses but is still more than 7% lower on the week. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was steady after touching above 2%, while the 30-year rate reached the highest since May 2021. Money-market traders ratcheted up positioning for higher rates this year to close to seven quarter-point moves. The dollar trimmed overnight gains.
Chinese stocks trading in the U.S. were pummeled, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index plunging 10% Thursday, its biggest slide since October 2008.
This latest evidence of inflationary pressure snapped fledgling rallies across global markets as hopes of progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine faded. The data compounded investors’ concerns about the risks to the global economy from the conflict-driven surge in commodity markets over the past couple of weeks.
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