Following favourable global market signals, Indian equity benchmarks closed higher for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, led by market heavyweights HDFC, Bharti Airtel, and Ultratech Cement. The sharp drop in crude oil prices, along with cease-fire talks between Russia and Ukraine, lifted market optimism.

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The Nifty50 has formed a small positive candle on the daily chart with a minor lower shadow, reflecting a follow-through upmove amid rangebound movement, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities. He believes that a positive sequence of higher tops and bottoms is intact on the daily timeframe.

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“The short-term trend continues to be positive. A sustainable move above 17,500 levels is likely to push the Nifty towards the next upside trajectory of around 17,800-18,000 levels in the near term. Immediate support is placed at 17,250,” he said.

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Indian Indices

Sensex rose 350.16 points or 0.61% to 57,943.65 and Nifty was up by 103.30 points or 0.60% to 17,325.30 in the previous session. Sensex touched a high and low of 58,001.53 and 57,639.35, respectively. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. Nifty traded in a range of 17,343.65 and 17,235.70. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

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Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.66%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.63%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.36%, Basic Materials up by 1.19%, Realty up by 1.03%, Consumer Durables up by 1.01% and Finance up by 0.90%, while PSU down by 0.76%, Energy down by 0.50%, Oil & Gas down by 0.30%, Auto down by 0.19% and FMCG down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

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Support and Resistance levels

The key support level for the Nifty is placed at 17,259, followed by 17,194. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,367 and 17,410, according to pivot charts.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 44-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,609.00 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:35 hours IST.

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Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.10% and the Hang Seng rose 0.95%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.33%

US Markets

The S&P 500 rose 56.08 points, or 1.2%, to 4,631.60.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 338.30 points, or 1%, to 35,294.19.

The Nasdaq rose 264.73 points, or 1.8%, to 14,619.64.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 55.04 points, or 2.6%, to 2,133.10.

European Markets

European markets finished broadly higher yesterday with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 was up 3.64% while Germany’s DAX was up 2.79% and London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.86%.

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Government to sell up to 1.5% stake in ONGC via OFS to raise Rs 3,000 crore

The Centre government plans to sell up to 1.5% of its equity stake in the country’s top oil and gas producer ONGC to raise around Rs 3,000 crore. The Offer For Sale (OFS) by the government will open on March 30 for non-retail investors and on March 31 for retail investors, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. “The promoter (the government) proposes to sell up to 94,352,094 equity shares of the company, (representing 0.75% of the total paid-up equity share capital of the company) on March 30, 2022 (to non-retail investors) and on March 31, 2022 (to retail investors) with an option to additionally sell 94,352,094 equity shares (in case of oversubscription),” it said. The Government of India owns a 60.41% stake in ONGC which produces half of India’s oil and gas. It will sell around 19 crore shares at a floor price of Rs 159 per share. In the OFS, a minimum of 25% of the shares are reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies while 10% is kept for retail investors.

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Who is Gaurav Negi, Indigo’s new CFO?

InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo Airlines has appointed Gaurav Negi as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) replacing Jiten Chopra, who has resigned from the post. Before joining IndiGo, Negi worked at General Electric Company for 22 years, where he was part of their Global Leadership programmes in finance and executive management, the company said in an official statement to BSE. “In his last role with GE, Mr Negi was the CFO for onshore wind (segment of GE Renewable Energy headquartered in Paris, France), APAC and Non-Executive Director, GE Transmission & Distribution (GE T&D) India,” it added. He was a member of the Board and various committees of Audit, Risk Management, Stakeholder Relationship and CSR.

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SEBI revises CIS rules during a board meeting in order to “remove regulatory arbitrage”

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), at its board meeting held on March 29, approved amendments to the collective investment schemes (CIS) norms in order to bring them in line with the regulatory framework governing mutual funds. “The board approved an amendment to SEBI (Collective Investment Schemes). Regulations, 1999 to strengthen the regulatory framework for collective investment schemes (CIS) in line with mutual fund regulations to remove regulatory arbitrage,” the market regulator said. The key amendments include the enhancement of net-worth criteria and the requirement of having a track record in a relevant field as an eligibility requirement for registration as a collective investment management company (CIMC). CIMC and its group, associates or shareholders are now restricted to 10% shareholding or representation on the board of another CIMC to avoid conflict of interest, it added. The amendments also include the “mandatory investment” of CIMC and its designated employees in the collective investment schemes to align their interests with that of the CIS.

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ICRA reduces India’s FY23 GDP growth forecast to 7.2% due to the impact of the Ukraine crisis

Domestic rating agency ICRA on Tuesday cut its FY23 real GDP growth estimate by a sharp 0.8% to 7.2%, primarily driven by the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its chief economist Aditi Nayar attributed the downward revision to elevated commodity prices and also fresh supply chain issues arising from the conflict in Ukraine. It can be noted that the Reserve Bank expects an FY23 GDP growth rate of 7.8%. The central bank is set to come out with the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the next fiscal year in early April when it will revisit the number. Real GDP growth is likely to moderate to 3-4% in Q4FY22 from 5.4% in Q3FY22, which will lead to an FY22 real GDP growth rate of 8.5%.

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IL&FS settles Rs 55,000 crore debt by the end of March, CS Rajan will take over as new CMD from April 3

The Union Government has appointed CS Rajan as Chairman and Managing Director of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) for a period of six months with effect from April 3, the company announced in a press conference on March 29. Till March-end, the infra behemoth has been able to resolve debt amounting to Rs 55,000 crore. Of the total debt of Rs 55,000 crore, Rs 21,000 crore of debt has been discharged by way of monetisation of assets and debt repayment, largely to public sector lenders. The group has another Rs 20,000 crore in the form of cash and INVIT unit balance, while debt amounting to Rs 14,000 crore is presently engaged in different courts of which Rs 7,500 crore has already been approved and transaction closure is underway. The resolved debt amounts to 90% of the total debt that was expected to be resolved, Rajan told reporters. Since its last update in November, the company has resolved incremental debt amounting to Rs 2,700 crore. The incremental resolution of over Rs 2,700 crore comprises Rs 1,080 crore from the sale of IL&FS headquarters in BKC Mumbai, Rs 900 crore under Khed Sinnar claim settlement with NHAI, Rs 230 crore from the settlement of IFIN’s non-performing loan accounts, and Rs 520 crore from other recoveries. In addition, the Group continues to service debt of Rs 1,000 crore across companies. Further, the management today exhumed confidence in achieving the target of resolving Rs 61,000 of debt.

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Bulk Deal data

CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD sold 55,83,625 shares of SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd at Rs 1068.35 per share on NSE.

VENKATESHWARA INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION CO.LIMITED bought 1,63,200 shares in Atal Realtech Limited at Rs 108.00 per share on the NSE.

JAYESH SURENDRA RAMPURIA bought 1,53,000 shares in Cool Caps Industries Ltd at Rs 42.66 per share on the NSE.

ENAM FINANCE PVT LTD sold 462,35,599 shares in Future Consumer Ltd at Rs 4.74 per share on the NSE.

ANUSTUP TRADING PRIVATE LIMITED bought 36,39,625 shares in Globe Textiles (I) Ltd at Rs 9.30 per share on the NSE.

JANATI BIO POWER PRIVATE LIMITED sold 57,02,305 shares of Orient Green Power Co Ltd at Rs 13.20 per share on NSE.

YUGA STOCKS AND COMMODITIES PRIVATE LIMITED bought 1,03,457 shares of Jindal Photo Limited at Rs 284.20 per share on NSE.

MARYADA BARTER PVT LTD sold 12,22,115 shares in Mcleod Russel India Limit at Rs 22.61 per share on the NSE.

SATHISH SRINIVAS NAYAK bought 2,91,394 shares in Nandan Denim Limited at Rs 61.18 per share on the NSE.

VAISHALI PANKAJ VYAS sold 1,00,200 shares of SecUR Credentials Limited at Rs 102.81 per share on NSE.

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RAMLAL KANWARLAL JAIN bought 14,99,775 shares in Shyam Century Ferrous Ltd at Rs 24.90 per share on the NSE.

KRONE FINSTOCK PRIVATE LIMITED sold 4,31,000 shares in Vivimed Labs Limited at Rs 15.15 per share on the NSE.

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DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 35.47 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,713.31 crore in the Indian equity market on March 29, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

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NSE F&O Ban

Vodafone Idea, PVR, and Sun TV Network are under the F&O ban for March 30. 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.