Indian equity benchmarks gained for the fifth consecutive session on Monday, finishing with gains of more than 1.5%, powered by advances in Banking, IT, TECK, and Finance equities, despite losses in other global markets.
The Nifty50 has formed a long bull candle on the daily chart, pointing to strength in upside momentum in the market, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.
“The index finally challenged crucial resistance at 16,800-17,000 levels, partially filling the downside opening gap. This is a positive sign,” he said.
Sensex rose 935.72 points or 1.68% to 56,486.02 and Nifty was up by 240.85 points or 1.45% to 16,871.30 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 56,545.83 and 55,556.47, respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index. Nifty traded in a range of 16,887.95 and 16,606.50. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.
Broader Indices
The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.02%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.31%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.31%, IT up by 2.16%, TECK up by 2.15%, Finance up by 1.80% and Auto up by 0.90%, while Realty down by 1.73%, Oil & Gas down by 0.85%, Power-down by 0.60%, Utilities down by 0.56% and Metal down by 0.40% were the losing indices on BSE.
Support and Resistance levels
The key support level for the Nifty is placed at 16,689, followed by 16,507. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,971 and 17,070, according to pivot charts.
SGX Nifty
The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with an 11-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,772.20 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:45 hours IST.
Asian Markets
Asian markets finished sharply lower yesterday with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng was down 6.66% while China’s Shanghai Composite was off 2.20% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was lower by 1.49%.
The S&P 500 fell 31.20 points, or 0.7%, to 4,173.11.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05 points, or less than 0.1%, to 32,945.24.
The Nasdaq fell 262.59 points, or 2%, to 12,581.22.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 37.95 points, or 1.9%, to 1,941.72.
European Markets
European markets finished broadly higher yesterday with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX was up 2.21% while France’s CAC 40 was up 1.75% and London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.57%.
WPI inflation jumps to 13.11% in February, up from 12.96% in January, according to government statistics
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. Meanwhile, in January, India’s wholesale inflation had eased into a three-month low after touching a series high in November, on the back of softening prices of manufactured food products and crude petroleum and natural gas. The rate of price rise has remained in double digits in the next months on account of elevated international crude oil and commodity prices due to geopolitical tensions surrounding Russia and Ukraine, economists cautioned. Inflation in food articles, however, eased to 8.19% in February from 10.33%. Vegetable inflation was 26.93% in February, against 38.45% in the previous month.
Tata Sons chief N Chandrasekaran appointed as Chairman of Air India
Tata Sons chief N Chandrasekaran has been appointed as Chairman of Air India on March 14, reported NDTV citing the group’s spokesperson. The development comes after Ilker Ayci declined to take up the position of the airline’s CEO on March 1. Tata Sons in February had named the former Turkish Airlines Chairman as its CEO, who was supposed to over on or before April 1 this year. In a statement announcing his decision, Ayci said: “Since the announcement I have been carefully following news in some sections of the Indian media attempting to colour my appointment with undesirable colours.” Gustav Baldauf, former Chief Operating Officer, Air India said “He (Ayci) got trapped by the interference of politics in his aviation business. Maybe he is a victim of that, maybe he used politics to speed up his career … now he learned that India is not Turkey and you better do your homework before applying for a sensitive job like CEO.”
LIC IPO will take place in April, rather than March, as previously planned: Report
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India will issue its initial public offering (IPO) in April instead of March as decided earlier because of ongoing market turbulence, LiveMint reported on Monday citing three officials aware of the change in plans. The government is watching the market volatility, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, closely and investor interest will be the key deciding factor for the timing of India’s biggest IPO, the report said. The government is looking to sell 5% of its stake in the insurer through an offer for sale (OFS) to raise nearly Rs 75,000 crore. “We will try to do the LIC IPO some time next month, maybe at the end of April. We don’t want to delay it much further. We have a window till 12 May,” LiveMint quoted as saying one of the three officials cited above said, adding the government expects the market sentiments weakened by geopolitical tensions to improve in April.
Global bonds have slipped 10% from peak
Global bond markets are trading with a 10% decline for the first time in over a decade as rising inflation forces yields higher. The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, a benchmark for government and corporate debt, has declined about 9.9% from a high in early 2021, the biggest decline from its highest level in 2008, according to a report by Bloomberg. Losses have been particularly steep in pockets of global credit markets. According to a Bloomberg Index, Asian dollar bonds have fallen around 10.5% from their highest in 2021, after Chinese defaults rose to a record. Broader credit markets have also shown signs of distress after weeks of outflows. Spreads on the investment-grade dollar and euro-denominated corporate bonds have widened over 55% so far this year to their peak since the summer of 2020, show the Bloomberg index.
Nestle, HUL announces price hike: Maggi, tea to get costlier
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Nestle announced a price hike for products such as tea, coffee, milk and noodles on March 14, reported CNBC TV-18 quoting sources. Nestle India is raising the prices of Maggi noodles by 9% to 16%. Apart from Maggi, Nestle India has also announced a price hike for its milk and coffee powder. With the recent changes, the Maggi Masala noodles 70gm price will cost Rs 14 from earlier Rs 12. The price of Maggi Masala Noodles 140 gm is raised by Rs 3% or 12.5%, while the 560 gm pack is will become expensive by 9.4% and will be retailed at Rs 105 from earlier Rs 96. The price of Nestle A+milk 1 liter pack will be costlier by 4% than its current price, which makes it to Rs 78 from Rs 75. The price of Nescafe classic coffee powder is increased by 3-7%, resulting in the price of Nescafe classic 25 gm pack up by 2.5% to Rs 80 from Rs 78. Nescafe classic 50 gm pack is raised to Rs 150 from Rs 145, a 3.4% hike. Furthermore, another FMCG major HUL too has taken price hikes in its tea and coffee powder range. HUL has raised prices of Bru coffee powder by 3-7% across packs. Bru gold coffee jars will become costlier 3-4%, instant coffee pouches costlier by 3-6.66% across packs. Bru instant coffee pouches are now costlier by 3% to 6.66% across packs. Taj Mahal tea prices are raised by 3.7% to 5.8% across variants, according to the CNBC TV-18 report.
AVIRAT ENTERPRISE sold 33,600 shares in Bombay Metrics S C Ltd at Rs 418.56 per share on the NSE.
INTEGRATED CORE STRATEGIES ASIA PTE LTD bought 4,10,602 shares in BSE Limited at Rs 2,895.80 per share on the NSE.
ADITYA VIKRAM AGARWAL (HUF) sold 5,46,135 shares in Mcleod Russel India Limited at Rs 22.99 per share on the NSE.
DEVDIP BUILDERS PRIVATE LIMITED bought 1,00,000 shares of Dangee Dums Limited at Rs 212.09 per share on NSE.
SETHI VINOD RAJINDRANATH sold 29,42,300 shares of Supreme Engineering Ltd at Rs 2.11 per share on NSE.
OREGON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM bought 4,62,371 shares in Dhampur Sugar Mills Ltd at Rs 492.28 per share on the NSE.
RAMLAL KANWARLAL JAIN bought 2,00,000 equity shares in Mawana Sugars Limited at Rs 164.84 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.
VIKI JAYESHKUMAR SHAH bought 54,000 shares of Vaishali Pharma Limited at Rs 55.48 per share on NSE.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 176.52 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1098.62 crore in the Indian equity market on March 14, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
Balrampur Chini Mills is under the F&O ban for March 15. 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.
