PremiumIndian indices on Monday made solid gains for the fifth straight day as fall in crude prices eased fears of surge in inflation. The market sentiments were also helped by the news of progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. All eyes will be now on the two-day monetary policy committee meeting of the US Federal Reserve beginning Tuesday. The Sensex added 935points, while Nifty50 rose 240 points. Strong buying support was seen in IT and banking stocks. The broader markets remained in the green as MidCap added 0.02% and SmallCap was up 0.31%. In Asia, shares in Japan and Australia edged higher, while Hong Kong and Shanghai witnessed decline at close on Monday as Covid-19 infections resurfaced in China.
Indian indices closed higher on Monday for the fifth straight day amid favourable global cues. The crude prices fell, peace talks between Russia and Ukraine progressed, and the fears of global inflation remained in control. The investors will now turn their focus to the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee meeting, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
The Sensex added 935.72 points, or 1.68%, to close at 56,486.02, while Nifty50 gained 240.85 points, or 1.45%, to end at 16,871.30.
The Sensex began the day in the green at 55,614.40 points and surged to a high of 56,545.83 points.
Strong buying support was seen on IT and banking counters. The other sectors that performed well were auto, consumer durables, financials, among others, while Metals, realty, power, and oil & gas dragged.
On the 30-stock index, the most gains were made by Infosys, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Maruti among others, while Sun Pharma, HUL, DRL, and Tata Steel were the only losers.
On Nifty50, Infosys, SBI, HDFC Bank made the biggest gains, while IOC, ONGC, and HUL dragged.
A Delhi Court has sent former MD and CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE), Chitra Ramkrishna to 14 days judicial custody in NSE co-location case.
As markets pick up momentum in their recovery path from their late-February and early-March steep selloff - a shockwave fueled due to Russia's Ukraine invasion, Maithan Alloys is set to witness strong bullish movement as stock is expected to rise up to Rs2,000-mark. Ventura Securities is upbeat on Maithan Alloys and has given a buy target.
India's inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) accelerated to 13.11% in February as compared to the 12.96% increase in January, according to data released by the Commerce Ministry on March 14. WPI was 4.83% in February 2021. High WPI inflation is seen as a precursor to higher consumer prices as producers pass on rising costs to their customers.
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s shares have declined by 10% so far in the calendar year 2022. InterGlobe runs the IndiGo airline.
Tokyo stocks closed higher on Monday, helped by rising US futures after sharp drops in the previous session, while investors remained cautious over the Ukraine crisis.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.58 percent, or 145.07 points, to end at 25,307.85, while the broader Topix index rose 0.71 percent, or 12.74 points, to 1,812.28.
"The Nikkei index rebounded despite falls of the three major US indexes last week," Okasan Online Securities said.
"A wide range of shares were bought and the market reacted positively to rising US futures."
Widespread lockdowns in China akin to the measures just taken in the southern technology hub of Shenzhen could affect half of the country’s gross domestic product.
Authorities on Sunday placed Shenzhen’s 17.5 million residents into lockdown for at least a week amid a surge of Covid-19 infections in the city. Shanghai suspended in-person classes and shut intercity bus services, while the northeast industrial center of Changchun, in Jilin -- a city of about 9 million people and accounting for about 11% of China’s total annual car output in 2020 -- was locked down last week.
As cases jump elsewhere, half of China’s GDP and population will be impacted by the latest outbreak, according to economists at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Bloomberg Economics said in a recent note that as of March 9, 14 provinces had high or medium-risk regions, accounting for 54.4% of national GDP.
Stock exchange BSE's record date for its bonus shares issue has been fixed next week on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, as the record date for the purpose of determining the names of shareholders who shall be entitled for allotment of bonus equity shares.
We are witnessing consistent buying by domestic investors in the face of unprecedented selling by FPIs during rare and extreme fear-inducing events seen over the past few years (covid pandemic and global brinkmanship due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict). This is a clear positive surprise and heralds the structural deepening of domestic savings into equities in India. Such behaviour of aggressive buying during declining stock prices by domestic investors should result in improved long-term outcomes for their portfolios vs buying in a high-optimism phase of the market, and thereby setting off a virtuous cycle. However, the corollary to the foregoing is that expectations of finding huge bargains in stock prices seen in previous bouts of FPI selling will be belied going ahead.
HDFC Bank Ltd’s investors were having a rough ride with the stock underperforming the sector in the past one year. In fact, shares of the bank touched a new 52-week low on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) last week.
We were estimating Paytm’s consumer base to grow by 10% in FY23E and monthly transacting users to increase at >25% run-rate. Company will have to increase its efforts to enhance engagement with the existing user base to offset the adverse impact of embargo on new users. Now, expecting moderation in onboarding of new users and the adverse impact on incremental payment revenue (as wallets are key monetisable payment instrument), we revise our target price to Rs1,285 (earlier Rs1,352). Also, it may defer PPBL’s plan to apply for conversion into small finance bank (though eligible to apply from May’22). Maintain ‘BUY’
Inflation has been on the top of minds of investors ever since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated late last month. And why not. Brent prices recently touched $130 a barrel, even though they have cooled off a bit, they continue to hover above $110. Crude oil products have a significant weightage in India's inflation basket measures via the consumer price index (CPI).
Patanjali-backed Ruchi Soya logs a stellar uptick in its stock price on Monday's early session after the company filed a red herring prospectus (RHP) for its follow-on public offer (FPO) to the tune of ₹4,300 crore upon receiving board of directors approval.
With respect to MFI portfolio, independent review findings are in line with affirmations made earlier and incremental provisioning impact is a mere <1bps of advances. We expect slippages to moderate to 3.5% in Q4FY22 and lower in FY23E, and credit cost to start normalising FY23E onwards. We expect IIB to deliver >5% PPoP/loans, >1.8% RoAs and 15% RoEs by FY23E. Maintain BUY with an unchanged target price of Rs1,420. Key risks: 1) lower than estimated growth, and 2) credit cost not normalising soon.
While demand for the LCV segment has been growing smartly post the pandemic, demand for the MHCV segment has also started to recover over the past few months before the 2nd lockdown. We believe that the company is ideally placed to capture the growth revival in the CV segment and will be the biggest beneficiary of the Government’s voluntary scrappage policy and hence rate the stock a BUY.
Rating: BUY
CMP: ₹106
Target price: ₹164
Upside: 55%
Gold prices fell on Monday, dragged by firmer U.S. Treasury yields and improved risk appetite on hopes of peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) selling bias continued in March as well in Indian markets. FPIs outflow is highest in just 11 days of March than compared to the previous two months of this year. However, FPIs have been on a selling spree for the past sixth months in a row. Majority of the selling is carried in the equities market for the third month straight this year, while overseas investors are net sellers in the debt market for a second consecutive month.
Extending gains for fourth straight day, equities edged up on Friday with Nifty 50 index closing 0.21% higher at 16,630, while the BSE Sensex rose 0.15% to 55,550 points. Both the indexes gained more than 2% for the week, logging their first weekly gain in five.
India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) said on Saturday it planned to set up a new domestic spot gold exchange that would bring more efficiency and transparency to bullion pricing.
NSE will create the exchange together with the India Bullion and Jewellers Association, which represents industry members in the world's second largest consumer of the precious metal.
The new bourse will be overseen by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country's market regulator, it added.
The yen slid to a new five-year low on Monday, ahead of a bumper week of central bank meetings around the world which will almost certainly reaffirm the Bank of Japan's position as one of the last dovish central banks standing.
Also weighing on the yen and fellow safe haven the Swiss franc, were hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks, after the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State said Russia is showing signs it might be willing to have substantive negotiations over Ukraine.
Oil prices fell on Sunday at the start of the session, extending last week's decline, as a U.S. official said Russia was showing signs it might be willing to have substantive negotiations over Ukraine.
Brent crude futures fell $1.82, or 1.6%, to $110.85 a barrel by 6:47 p.m. ET (2247 GMT). WTI crude futures fell $2.41, or 2.2%, to $106.92 a barrel.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, which Moscow calls a "special operation," has roiled energy markets globally. Brent last week was down 4.8% after hitting $139.13 on March 7. U.S. crude recorded a weekly drop of 5.7% after touching a high of $130.50 on March 7. Both contracts last touched those price peaks in 2008.
Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday after sharp drops in the previous session as investors remained cautious over uncertainties linked to the war in Ukraine.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.84 percent, or 211.58 points, at 25,374.36 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.78 percent, or 14.00 points, at 1,813.54.
"Since Japanese shares fell on Friday, followed by drops on Wall Street, today's trade will likely stay within a narrow range," said senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex.
"The market remains sensitive to the Ukraine crisis," he added.
Questions related to the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy are also weighing on the market, analysts said.
Treasuries fell Monday to extend a severe selloff that last week delivered losses equivalent to their interest payments over the past year.
Five-year yields rose six basis points to surpass 2% for the first time since May 2019, while 10-year yields climbed a similar amount to 2.05%.
Yields across the curve are at or near multi-year highs thanks to accelerating inflation and an imminent global shift toward restrictive monetary policy.
Asian shares advanced and oil slipped on Monday on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting raged on, while bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and UK this week.
While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.
Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.7%, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.6%.
Japan's Nikkei rose 1.1%, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1% after sliding almost 4% last week.
Bonds remained under pressure having taken a beating last week as surging commodity prices looked set to boost inflation yet further, with yields on 10-year Treasuries rising three basis points early Monday to 2.03%.
Notably, a key measure of U.S. inflation expectations climbed to 3% and near record highs.
That merely cemented expectations the Federal Reserve would lift rates by 25 basis points at its policy meeting this week and signal more to come through members' "dot plot" forecasts.
U.S. equity futures rose Monday amid a dip in crude oil as traders weighed inflation risks from commodity-supply disruptions triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts gained along with Australian shares. Investors were parsing efforts at diplomacy to tackle the conflict, as well as comments from a U.S. official that Russia asked China for military equipment.
Last week’s plunge in U.S.-listed Chinese shares threatens to sap the mood in Hong Kong. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index sank 10% on Friday to the lowest level since September 2015.
A dollar gauge and the yen slipped, while the euro edged up. The Russian ruble was indicated slightly stronger versus the greenback. Gold retreated further from $2,000 an ounce.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to begin a cycle of interest-rate increases with a 25 basis-points move, seeking to tame price pressures. Inflation was already high before the war in Ukraine, and the isolation of resource-rich Russia in retribution, further stoked commodity costs.
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