Indian market indexes on Friday, finished higher for the fourth consecutive day, powered by advances in the Auto, Telecom, and Tech sectors. Domestic indexes bounced between green and red territory in a very volatile day, as traders were concerned when a private brokerage company drastically reduced its India FY23 real GDP growth projection to 7.9%, owing mostly to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on oil prices.

The Nifty50 has formed a small positive candle at the highs on the daily chart, reflecting rangebound action in the market, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.”

This cooling off of the short-term trend was due after a sharp up move of around 1,000 points in the previous three sessions. Further consolidation with high volatility is expected given the index is near crucial overhead resistance at 16,800-170,00 levels,” he said.  

Indian Indices

Sensex rose 85.91 points or 0.15% to 55,550.30 and Nifty was up by 35.55 points or 0.21% to 16,630.45 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 55,833.95 and 55,049.95, respectively. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. Nifty traded in a range of 16,694.40 and 16,470.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. 

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.45%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.90%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.07%, PSU up by 1.01%, Oil & Gas up by 0.96%, Basic Materials up by 0.84% and Metal up by 0.57%, while Auto down by 0.35%, Telecom down by 0.14%, TECK down by 0.12% and IT down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

Support and Resistance levels

The key support level for the Nifty is at 16,503, followed by 16,375. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,726 and 16,822, according to the pivot charts.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 103-points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,596.80 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:40 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.41%, while the Nikkei 225 led the Hang Seng lower. They fell 2.05% and 1.47% respectively.

US Markets

The S&P 500 fell 55.21 points, or 1.3%, to 4,204.31.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 229.88 points, or 0.7%, to 32,944.19.

The Nasdaq fell 286.15 points, or 2.2%, to 12,843.81.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 32 points, or 1.6%, to 1,979.67.

European Markets

European markets finished mixed. The DAX gained 1.38% and the FTSE 100 rose 0.80%. The CAC 40 lost 1.85%.

LIC third quarter net profit jumps to Rs 235 crore

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Friday announced that its third-quarter profit for the financial year 2021-22 stood at Rs 234.9 crore as compared to Rs 90 lakh in the corresponding quarter in the previous year. According to the LIC website, the profit of the first nine months of FY22 i.e. April-December 2021, jumped to Rs 1,642.78 crore from Rs 7.08 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier. On January 25, LIC had reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,437 crore for the first half of the financial year as compared with Rs 6.14 crore in the year-ago period. The state-run insurer had booked profit worth Rs 29,102 crore from the sale of investments in the first six months of FY22. The first-year premium for the IPO-bound company rose to Rs 8,748.55 crore from Rs 7,957.37 crore in the same quarter last year. Renewal premium stood at Rs 56,822.49 crore, up from Rs 54,986.72 crore in the year-ago quarter. LIC’s total premium rose 0.78% to Rs 97,761.20 crore compared with Rs 97,008.05 crore.

RBI directs Paytm Payments Bank to stop taking on new users

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its latest order released today, has barred Paytm Payments Bank from onboarding new customers with immediate effect due to “certain material supervisory concerns” observed in the bank. The central bank said the Paytm Payments Bank has been directed to appoint a firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of its IT system. “Onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to be granted by RBI after reviewing a report of the IT auditors,” the RBI order said. The RBI said that the action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the bank. However, the RBI did not provide any details. The stricture has been imposed under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act. The move comes months after Paytm’s parent firm One97 Communications saw a poor listing amid concerns around the company’s valuation.

ICICI Bank raises Rs 8,000 crore through the bond issue

ICICI Bank on Friday said it has raised Rs 8,000 crore by issuing debt securities on a private placement basis. The board of directors of the bank on April 24, 2021, had approved fundraising through the issuance of debt securities. Pursuant to this, the bank has allotted 80,000 senior unsecured redeemable long-term bonds in the nature of debentures, aggregating to Rs 8,000 crore, on a private placement basis, ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing. The date of allotment is March 11, 2022, it added. The bonds are redeemable at the end of 10 years (redemption date March 11, 2032). There are no special rights/ privileges attached to the bonds, which carry a coupon of 7.12% per annum, payable annually, and were issued at par, it added. The bonds are listed in the relevant segment of the NSE. ICICI Bank said the bonds are rated ‘CARE AAA; Stable’ by Credit Analysis & Research Limited, ‘CRISIL AAA/Stable by CRISIL Ratings Limited and ICRA AAA; Stable’ by ICRA.

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited Pratik Pota resigns as CEO

Pratik Pota has resigned as the CEO of Jubilant FoodWorks as he looks to pursue an external opportunity, the company informed in a filing to stock exchanges on Friday. “We wish to inform you that the board of directors of the company in their meeting held on March 11, 2022, accepted the resignation of Pratik Rashmikant Pota as the CEO and whole-time director of the company as he wishes to pursue opportunities outside Jubilant FoodWorks Limited,” said the filing. Pota will continue in his current role till June 15, 2022, according to the company. “The board places on record its sincere appreciation for the outstanding contribution made by Pota during his tenure with the company and wishes him the very best in his future endeavours,” the company said in its filing to the stock exchanges. The company has initiated the process of identifying its successor, it informed. In India, JFL has a strong and extensive network of 1,495 Domino’s restaurants in 322 cities. JFL also has the exclusive rights to develop and operate Dunkin’ outlets in India. It also has the right to operate Popeyes restaurants in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

Rise in global energy prices will hurt India: International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said that while India has been quite good at managing its finances, the rise in global energy costs will have an adverse impact on its economy. During a media roundtable on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its global repercussions on Thursday, Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director, said that the conflict has posed a challenge to economies all around the world, including India. “India relies heavily on energy imports and the price is going up. That has implications on the purchasing power of Indian households. “If you’re looking at headline inflation numbers, inflation in India is close to around 6%, which is the upper end of the inflation band for the Reserve Bank of India,” Gopinath said. This has ramifications for the country’s monetary policy, and it is an issue in many regions of the world, not just India, she explained. Georgieva said, “Clearly the most significant channel of impact on the Indian economy is energy prices.”

Bulk Deal data

EARC TRUST SC 404 sold 8,17,594 shares in Hind Natl Glass & Ind Ltd at Rs 11.93 per share on the NSE.

MI LIFESTYLE MARKETING GLOBAL PRIVATE LIMITED bought 37,000 shares in Banaras Beads Ltd at Rs 106.47 per share on the NSE.

EKTHA COM PRIVATE LIMITED sold 80,000 shares in Silly Monks Entertain Ltd at Rs 25.70 per share on the NSE.

NEW MODERN BUILDWELL PRIVATE LIMITED bought 1,00,000 shares of Rudrabhishek Enterp Ltd at Rs 211.25 per share on NSE.

VASANI ATUL ARVINDBHAI sold 15,00,000 shares of Vaishali Pharma Limited at Rs 55.18 per share on NSE.

CNETLINGO MARKETING PRIVATE LIMITED bought 99,000 shares in Shigan Quantum Tech Ltd at Rs 63.19 per share on the NSE.

ESSEL INDUSTRIES PVT LTD sold 200,000 equity shares in GANECOS at Rs 700.61 per share on the BSE, the bulk deals data showed.

VISHNU SHANTIBHAI PARMAR bought 104,811 shares of THINKINK at Rs 54.55 per share on BSE.

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2,263.9 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,686.85 crore in the Indian equity market on March 11, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

No stock or security has been put under the F&O ban for March 14. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.