Markets Live: Sensex rebounds 196 points as geopolitical tensions ease

Closing bell

Market benchmark Sensex rose over 196 points to end the week at 36,064 and also posted its second straight weekly gains amid signs of easing tensions between India and Pakistan.

The key BSE index also snapped its three-session losing run after the March derivatives series got off to a strong start coupled with uninterrupted foreign fund inflows.

The 30-share Sensex opened positive and rallied to the session’s high of 36,140.67 on widespread buying by participants.

However, profit-booking in select counters trimmed the gains as the gauge settled 196.37 points, or 0.55 per cent, higher at 36,063.81. It had lost over 346 points in the previous three sessions due to geo-political tensions between India and Pakistan.

For the week, the BSE Sensex rose 192.33 points, or 0.57 per cent, while the broader NSE Nifty gained 71.35 points, or 0.69 per cent. This was the second straight weekly gains for the index.

The NSE Nifty, after hitting a high of 10,877.90, closed at 10,863.50, up 71 points, or 0.66 per cent. Intra-day, it fell to a low of 10,823.10.

Financial, capital goods, IT, power and oil and gas sector stocks hogged the limelight, helped indices to reclaim their key level.

Brokers said investors indulged in creating new positions following the beginning of the March futures and options (F&O) series that led to the rally in the market.

Markets will remain closed on Monday on account of ‘Mahashivratri’. 

Meanwhile, on a net basis, FIIs bought shares worth Rs 3,210.6 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 5,240.62 crore on Thursday, provisional data showed.

On the macro-economic front, however, traders looked somewhat hesitant after country’s economic growth slowed down to a 5-quarter low of 6.6 per cent in the October-December period, analysts said.

Economic growth estimates for the current fiscal year ending March 31 have been revised downwards to 7 per cent from the earlier estimate of 7.2 per cent. This is the lowest growth in the last five years.

The rupee depreciating by 27 paise to 70.99 against the dollar (intra-day) at the forex market and the international benchmak Brent crude surging to $66.55 per barrel, capped gains to some extent.

A firming trend in the rest of Asia, driven by a rally in Chinese markets after index publisher MSCI announced it would boost the proportion of mainland shares in its global benchmarks, also accelerated buying activities. - PTI

European shares start March on a high

European shares rose to five-month highs in the morning of the first trading day of March as a fresh batch of corporate updates helped drive a risk-on mood after US President Donald Trump earlier fuelled some concerns over trade talks with China. Click here to read in full the European shares price movement report .

Asian shares up as MSCI weighting plan lifts China

Asian shares outside Japan steady above 14-month low. File Photo

Asian shares edged up on Friday after index publisher MSCI announced it would raise the weight of Chinese mainland shares in its global benchmarks, while strong US economic data lifted the dollar.

China's blue-chip CSI300 index surged 2.2 per cent to finish off its best week since November 2015, after MSCI said it would quadruple the weighting of China's A-shares in its global benchmarks later this year, potentially drawing more than $80 billion of fresh foreign inflows to the world's second-biggest economy. Click here to read in full the Asian share markets report .

Oil climbs amid OPEC-led supply cuts

Oil prices climbed on Friday as markets tightened amid output cuts by producer club OPEC, but surging US supply and concerns of global economic slowdown kept a lid on further gains.

International Brent crude futures were at $66.85 per barrel at 0750 GMT, up 54 cents, or 0.81 per cent, from their last settlement. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $57.66 per barrel, up 44 cents, or 0.77 per cent. Click here to read in full the oil markets report .

Nifty call: Near-term outlook positive above 10,860 levels

Nifty 50 March Futures (10,885)

The domestic market indices the Sensex and the Nifty began the session on a positive note, taking bullish cues from the Asian markets. The Nikkei 225 has gained 1 per cent to 21,602 levels and the Hang Seng index has advanced 0.5 per cent to 28,779 in today's session. Click here to read in full the Nifty call report .

Sensex, Nifty hold steady at mid-session

The benchmark Sensex and Nifty held on to most of their morning gains at mid-session on Friday.

The Sensex was trading at 36,025, up 158 points or 0.44 per cent higher, while the Nifty was at 10,844, up 52 points or 0.48 per cent higher.

The top gainers  on the 50-share Nifty index were ZEEL, Adani Ports, VEDL, IndusInd Bank and HeroMotoCorp, while the laggards were Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Axis Bank and Asian Paints.

Maruti Suzuki February sales up marginally at 1,36,912 units

Digital marketing push Maruti Suzuki created a special video ad series for the Ertiga called ‘Real Time Social’ S Muralidhar

The country's largest passenger cars maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), on Friday reported a marginal growth in domestic sales in February to 1,36,912 units as compared with 1,36,648 units in the corresponding month last year. Click here to read in full the report on Maruti Suzuki Feb sales .

India to grow at 7.3% in 2019, 2020: Moody’s

The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.3 per cent in calendar year 2019 and 2020, and the government spending announced ahead of elections this year will support near-term growth, Moody’s said on Friday.

The US-based rating agency said the country is less exposed to a slowdown in global manufacturing trade growth than other major Asian economies and emerging markets and is poised to grow at a relatively stable pace in the two years. Click here to read in full the Moody's report on India's economic growth .

Bajaj Auto sales up 10% in Feb at 3.93 lakh units

The new Bajaj Pulsar 150

Bajaj Auto on Friday reported a 10 per cent increase in total sales at 3,93,089 units in February against 3,57,883 units in the same month last year.

The company’s motorcycle sales were up 10 per cent at 3,27,985 units, against 2,97,514 units during the same period a year ago, Bajaj Auto said in a BSE filing. Click here to read the report on Bajaj Auto Feb sales in full.

Sensex, Nifty hold firm

The benchmark indexes, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, were trading firm in morning trade on Friday.

The Sensex was at 36,049, up 181 points or 0.51 per cent higher, while the Nifty was at 10,850, up 53 points or 0.49 per cent higher.

The top gainers on the Sensex were VEDL, YES Bank, Coal India, IndusInd Bank and HeroMotoCorp, while Bharti Airtel was the only scrip in the negative zone.

Gold hits 2-week low as upbeat US data lifts dollar

Gold may retrace into $1,321-$1,331 range.

Gold prices hit a two-week low on Friday as upbeat US economic data boosted the dollar, while mounting concerns over a slowdown in global growth offered support to the safe-haven metal.

As of 0323 GMT, spot gold was 0.1 per cent higher at $1,313.47 per ounce, after slipping to its lowest since Feb. 15 at $1,311.61 earlier in the session. Click here to read in full the gold report .

DoT considering specialised bank for telecom infra

The Department of Telecommunications is considering a recommendation made earlier by the industry to set up a specialised bank for the telecom sector. To begin with, the bank will have a corpus of about $30 billion that will be transferred from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Click here to read in full the report on DoT considering specialised bank for telecom infra .

Rupee slips 14 paise against US dollar in early trade

The rupee depreciated by 14 paise to 70.86 against the United States (US) dollar in early trade Friday on increased demand for the US currency from importers and foreign fund outflows. Click here to read in full the rupee report .

Arvind’s demerged arm Anup Engg listing today

The demerged entity of Arvind, Anup Engineering, will list on the exchange on Friday. Last year, Arvind had demerged its branded retail and small engineering businesses into three different entities — Arvind, Arvind Fashions and Anup Engineering. Shareholders of Arvind had been allotted one equity share of Anup Engineering (formerly Anveshan Heavy Engineering) for every 27 shares. Anup Engineering manufactures critical process equipment for several core industries.

Jet Airways shares rise after report of chairman stepping down

Shares of Jet Airways Ltd jumped as much as 6 per cent on Friday, a day after sources said that founder Naresh Goyal had agreed to step down as chairman.

Goyal, who founded the full-service carrier 25 years ago, has also agreed to reduce his 51 per cent stake in the airline but would continue to be a part of the company in some capacity even after stepping down as chairman, one of the sources said. Click here to read in full the report on Jet Airways Chairman stepping down .

Company news: Anant Raj

Anant Raj  on Thursday said that the BSE and the National Stock Exchange have approved a composite scheme of arrangement for amalgamation and demerger among Anant Raj Agencies Private Ltd, Anant Raj and Anant Raj Global Ltd. Following this, the company is in the process of filing the first motion application before the National Company Law Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench. Shares of Anant Raj closed flat at ₹31.40 on the NSE. The stock was trading at Rs 31.85, up Rs 0.45 on the NSE on Friday.

Sensex, Nifty up 0.6%

The benchmark indexed, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, were trading on a firm footing in early trade on Friday.

The Sensex was up 220 points or 0.62 per cent at 36,102. The Nifty was trading at 10,858, up 66 points or 0.61 per cent higher.

The top gainers on the Sensex were VEDL, YES Bank, ICICI Bank, HeroMotoCorp and Coal India, while the laggards were Bharti Airtel and ONGC.

According to an agency report, the BSE benchmark Sensex rallied as the March derivatives series took off on a strong footing and foreign fund inflows fuelled the uptrend.

The gauge had lost over 346 points in the previous three sessions due to geo-political tensions between India and Pakistan.

However, signs of an ease in tensions between the two countries since Thursday evening hae helped in reviving trading sentiments on domestic bourses.

On the macro-economic front, however, traders might take a cautious look at country’s economic growth slowing down to a 5-quarter low of 6.6 per cent in October-December period, analysts said.

Economic growth estimates for the current fiscal year ending March 31 has been revised downwards to 7 per cent from the earlier estimate of 7.2 per cent. This is the lowest growth in the last five years.

Overall sentiments meanwhile turned upbeat on chances of a de-escalation of tension with Pakistan, brokers said. Unabated buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) also supported, they said.

Reflecting the bullish mood, all sectoral indices of BSE led by metal, bankex and IT were in the positive zone, rising by up to 0.95 per cent.

Shares of Vedanta Ltd on the top among Sensex components, rose 2.74 per cent, while YES Bank gained 1.60 per cent.

Brokers said investors were busy in creating new positions following the beginning of the March futures and options (F&O) series that led to the rally in the market.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, FIIs bought shares worth Rs 3,210.6 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 5,240.62 crore on Thursday, provisional data showed.

A firming trend in the rest of Asia also accelerated buying activities.

Japan’s Nikkei quoted 0.89 per cent higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.31 per cent in the early part. China’s Shanghai Composite Index too up bhy 0.22 per cent and Straits Times gained 0.40 per cent.

The US Dow Jones ended 0.27 per cent lower on Thursday. (with inputs from PTI)

Company news: Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals

In a notice to the exchanges,  Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals  on Thursday said that Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, Government of Sharjah, UAE, on Thursday confirmed that India Steamship International FZE has completed all termination procedures. Earlier in July 2018, the company had filed for voluntary liquidation of India Steamship International FZE, its wholly-owned subsidiary, in the UAE. ISS did not have any business operations. Shares of Chambal Fertilizers gained about 1 per cent at ₹158.15 on the NSE. On Friday, the stock was trading at Rs 160.00, up Rs 1.85, on the NSE.

Order win to keep ARSS Infra in focus

NPCC-ARSS, a joint venture firm of ARSS Infrastructure Projects, has won contracts worth ₹429 crore. The order is for widening and upgradation to 2-lane with paved shoulder configuration and geometric improvements at the Aizawl-Tuipang section of NH-54 in Mizoram on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode with loan assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Shareholders and investors will closely monitor the execution of the project.

Broker's call: Capacite Infraprojects (Buy)

CD Equisearch

Capacite Infraprojects (Buy)

CMP: ₹212

Target: ₹259

The stock of Capacite Infraprojects currently trades at around 14.5x FY19e EPS of ₹13.91 and 11.7x FY20e EPS of ₹17.23. Growing order book (currently at ₹11,876 crore/$1701.6 million), with an average project timeline of 3-3.5 years offers revenue growth of 25.3 per cent in current fiscal and 20 per cent in the next fiscal, precipitating 21.7 per cent average growth in post tax earnings.

Capacite’s marquee client base from construction sector such as Kalpataru, Lodha Group, Godrej Properties, amongst others, little veil its operating efficiency. Policy reforms such as RERA and Benami Property Act and implementation of GST — GST rates for houses under construction has been slashed to 5 per cent from 12 per cent; in a major push to stated objective of ‘Housing for All by 2022’, the GoI has reduced GST to marginal 1 per cent for affordable housing — is expected to augur well. Yet, delays in order execution (a couple of residential projects were delayed in Q3FY19) or loss of any significant client, need assaying. Any changes in the regulatory framework could also impact its business operations. In view of its strong recent order inflow and not so robust execution, we have reduced our earnings estimate unchanged for FY19 by 5.6 per cent.

Scam-hit PNB comes first in executing ‘reforms agenda’

Fraud-hit Punjab National Bank has been ranked first among public sector banks in the implementation of ‘reforms agenda’, followed by Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India, according to a report on Thursday. Click here to read the full report on PNB reforms agenda .

Dollar near 10-week high vs yen on upbeat US GDP

The dollar hovered near a 10-week high against the yen on Friday, thanks to a surge in Treasury yields after United States (US) gross domestic product data topped expectations. Click here to read in full the forex market report .

Oil rises on OPEC supply cuts; surging US output and economic slowdown weigh

Oil prices rose on Friday as markets tightened amid output cuts by producer club Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but surging United States (US) supply and a global economic slowdown prevented crude from climbing further. Click here to read in full the oil markets report .

Asian shares slightly higher, US growth lifts dollar

Asian shares inched higher on Friday with broader gains capped by investor caution as concerns about China's economy and global trade weighed on sentiment while stronger-than-expected United States (US) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data pushed the dollar up. Click here to read in full the Asian share market report .

Economic growth slows to 6.6% in Oct-Dec quarter

The Statistics Office on Thursday said economic growth for the third quarter ending December 31, 2018 slowed to 6.6 per cent, the lowest in six quarters. It also cut the estimate for the full fiscal by 20 basis points to 7 per cent, which is the lowest in the last five years. Click here to read in full the report on economic growth in Oct-Dec quarter .

Opening Bell

The Sensex opened Friday on a firm note, up 201.43 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 36,068. The Nifty was trading up 58.60 points or 0.54 per cent higher at 10,850.

US stocks edge downward as Wall St takes a pause

World shares have been buoyed by news of a possible new round of talks between Washington and Beijing. File Photo

Wall Street's main indexes fell slightly on Thursday as support from better-than-feared US GDP data was countered by concerns about earnings and US-China trade relations. Click here to read in full the US share market report .

Day Trading Guide for Friday, March 1, 2019

₹2082 • HDFC Bank

₹734 • Infosys

₹276 • ITC

₹149 • ONGC

₹1231 • Reliance Ind.

₹269 • SBI

₹1984 • TCS

10795 • Nifty 50 Futures

S1, S2 : Support 1 & 2; R1, R2: Resistance 1 & 2.

Today's Pick: Jubilant Life Sciences (₹784.5): Buy

The outlook for the stock of Jubilant Life Sciences is bullish. The stock rose over 2 per cent on Thursday breaking above a key resistance level of ₹770. This resistance level has been capping the upside since December 2018. The level of ₹770 will now act as a good support for the stock. Intermediate dips to this support level are likely to find fresh buyers coming into the market. A rally to ₹825 is likely in the coming days. Inability to breach ₹825 can trigger a corrective fall to ₹780 or even lower levels. But a strong break above ₹825 will increase the likelihood of the upmove extending to ₹875 and ₹900 levels over the medium-term. Cick here to read in full the Today's Pick on Jubilant Life Sciences .

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