Nifty today: SGX Nifty down 65 points; here’s what changed for market while you were sleeping
STATE OF THE MARKETS
SGX Nifty signals negative start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 65.50 points, or 0.45 per cent, lower at 14,530 in signs that Dalal Street was headed for a negative start on Friday.
Tech View: Nifty50 is in a bear grip
Nifty50 on Thursday tanked for the fifth straight session and formed a bearish candle on the daily chart, the sixth in a row. The steep fall dragged the 50-pack index below its crucial support at the 50-day moving average, with the index now placed near its recent swing low. Analysts said Nifty may face resistance in the 14,630-14,700 zone while support is seen in the 14,450-14,470 range.
Asian markets fall in early trade
Asian stocks opened lower on Friday, pressured by US Treasury yields that rose to 14-month highs overnight and oil prices, which fell by their biggest one-day declines since last summer. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.21 per cent in early trading, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.66 per cent to 29,207.99. In Japan, where the central bank will meet on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index declined 0.81 per cent to 29,970.76 .
Oil slumps as Europe faces lockdown
Oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses for a sixth day as a new wave of Covid-19 infections wash across Europe, spurring new lockdowns and dampening hopes for a recovery in demand for fuels anytime soon. US crude fell below $60 again and was trading at $59.97 a barrel. Brent crude was off by 1 cent at $63.27.
US stocks settled lower
Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street Thursday, as rising bond yields once again pulled down shares of technology companies and the energy sector sold off on a sharp drop in oil prices. The S&P 500 fell 58.66 points to 3,915.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 153.07 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 32,862.30, after rising more than 200 points earlier. The Nasdaq slid 409.03 points to 13,116.17.
Easy Trip Planners to make market debut
The stock will make market debut on Friday. The Rs 510 crore issue, which was sold from March 8 to March 10, was a big hit among investors, receiving a whopping 159.33 times bids. The scrip was trading with a premium of Rs 150-155 in the grey market, an official market for unlisted shares.
FPIs buy Rs 1,258 crore worth stocks
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1258.47 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,116.17 crore, data suggests.
MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee retreated from its early highs to close marginally up by 2 paise at 72.53 against the US currency on Thursday due to a resurgent dollar as US bond yields spurted to 14-month high.
10-year bonds: India 10-year bond yield rose 0.27 per cent to 6.20 after trading in 6.18-6.24 range.
Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 3.25 per cent, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 2.10-3.50 per cent.
EVENTS/DATA TO WATCH
- India Foreign Exchange Reserves 12/Mar (05:00 pm)
- BoJ Interest Rate Decision (08:30 am)
- UK Public Sector Net Borrowing Feb (12:30 pm)
- US Baker Hughes Total Rig Count 19/Mar (10:30 pm)
- US Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count 19/Mar (10:30 pm)
MACROS
Fresh setback for Future Retail… In a boost to Amazon, the Delhi HC on Thursday upheld the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator’s order restraining Future Retail from executing the Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail to sell its business, which has been opposed by the US e-commerce giant. Justice J R Midha held that the Kishore Biyani-led FRL “wilfully violated” the EA order and said it must face the consequences—slapping a cost of Rs 20 lakh, while ordering the debt-laden group against taking further action on the deal.
Sebi seeks to draft investor charter… Sebi has told credit rating companies to draw up an ‘investor charter’—a directive that has flummoxed rating companies, which fear it could expose them to lawsuits filed by angry investors with whom they share no direct relationship. The market regulator has recently circulated a draft charter among rating companies and the latter have shared their views on the subject.
Accenture numbers to boost Indian IT… IT consulting and services provider Accenture has raised its revenue growth outlook for fiscal year 2021 to between 6.5% and 8.5% on strong performance in the second quarter and record bookings in both consulting and outsourcing. It reported 8% growth in revenues in dollar terms to $12.1 billion during the quarter to February. On a sequential basis, revenue growth declined by 2 percentage points due to a drop in revenue from reimbursable travel costs. The upbeat outlook and increased outsourcing orders indicate that Indian companies would also benefit from a global increase in IT spending by clients, which are investing in technology to transform their businesses.
20-year-old cars to be deregistered… Announcing the vehicle scrapping policy, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said more than 20 year old personal vehicles will be de-registered from June1, 2024, if they fail in an automated fitness test or their registration certificate is not renewed. Similarly,15 year-plus commercial vehicles will be deregistered from April 1, 2023. Further, the government will advance roll out of the mandatory obtaining of fitness test certificates for personal vehicles from the automated testing centres in 10 most polluting cities. The initiatives are part of a roadmap to replace polluting vehicles with technologically advanced and greener ones across the country.
Powell says CBDC will co-exist with cash… Potential central bank digital currencies would need to be integrated into existing payment systems alongside cash and other forms of money, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. “A recent report from the Bank for International Settlements and a group of seven central banks, which includes the Fed, assessed the feasibility of CBDCs in helping central banks deliver their public policy objectives,” Powell said Thursday in prerecorded video remarks delivered to a payments conference in Basel, Switzerland
Top firms opt for hybrid work models… Top corporate houses including the Birla group, RPG group, Kotak Mahindra, Tata Motors, TCS, Cognizant Technology Services and Tech Mahindra have finalised a hybrid work model that will see employees returning to offices in phases this year. This comes at a time when vaccinations against the Covid-19 outbreak have picked up speed amid an evolving situation where experts have not ruled out a second wave of the pandemic. Many employees have settled down to a work from home routine, though several — especially women struggling with home-related demands — have also sought to return, seeking better infrastructure and collaboration with teams.
Consumption theme losing sheen… The consumption theme is gradually losing its sheen as institutional investors latch onto the companies that can benefit from the government’s focus on reviving the capital expenditure cycle, show the data from NSDL. The weight of the consumer staples sector in the portfolios of FPIs dropped to 6% in February 2021 compared with the peak of 9.4% in May 2020. Currently, it is lower than the one-year average weight of 7.7%. The Nifty consumption index has underperformed the benchmark Nifty 50 by 6% since the beginning of 2021.
SBI MF to monetise Franklin assets… SBI MF will start the process of monetising assets of the six shuttered schemes of Franklin Templeton from next week. This comes in after the Supreme Court took note of the standard operating procedure prepared by SBI Mutual Fund in a hearing held Thursday. “We will start looking at selling securities in the six schemes starting next week. Money will be disbursed to unit holders as soon as we collect a reasonable amount,” said DP Singh, executive director, SBI Mutual Fund. Five schemes have already disbursed Rs 9,122 crore to unit holders and have accrued another Rs 1,370 crore cash as on March 15, 2021.
