Indian market indexes failed to retain early gains, ending the day in the negative, as investors around the world ignored reassuring statements from the Fed over concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising oil prices.

The Nifty50 has formed a long bearish candle on the daily chart, suggesting weakness on Friday, according to Sachin Gupta, AVP-Research at Choice Broking.

“It has been trading below its 50-day simple moving average on the hourly chart… MACD has suggested a negative crossover,” he said. 

Indian Indices

Sensex fell 366.22 points or 0.66% to 55,102.68 and Nifty was down by 107.90 points or 0.65% to 16,498.05  in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 55,996.62 and 54,931.48, respectively. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. Nifty traded in a range of 16,442.95 and 16,768.95. There were 17 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in red with the BSE Midcap index falling 0.64%, while the Small cap index was down by 0.35%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.40%, Power up by 2.20%, Oil & Gas up by 2.07%, Metal up by 1.33% and IT up by 1.12%, while Auto down by 2.24%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 1.36%, Bankex down by 1.28%, Capital Goods down by 1.26% and Consumer Durables down by 1.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

Support and Resistance levels

The key support level for the Nifty is placed at 16,371, followed by 16,244. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,697 and 16,896, according to pivot charts.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 262-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,145.20 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:40 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.70% and the Hang Seng rose 0.41%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.09%.

US Markets

The S&P 500 fell 23.05 points, or 0.5%, to 4,363.49.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96.69 points, or 0.3%, to 33,794.66.

The Nasdaq fell 214.07 points, or 1.6%, to 13,537.94.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 26.46 points, or 1.3%, to 2,032.41.

European Markets

European markets are sharply lower yesterday with shares in London off the most. The FTSE 100 was down 2.10% while Germany’s DAX was off 1.65% and France’s CAC 40 was lower by 1.15%.

Vodafone Idea Board approves Rs 14,500 crore fundraising plan

Vodafone Idea Ltd on March 3 said its board has approved raising Rs 4,500 crore via issuing shares to its promoters Vodafone Inc and Aditya Birla group entities on a preferential basis. The firm will issue up to 3.39 billion shares at Rs 13.30 a share, 20% premium to its current market price, to Euro Pacific Securities Ltd, Prime Metals Ltd and Oriana Investments Pte Ltd on a preference basis. Euro Pacific Securities Ltd and Prime Metals Ltd are Vodafone Group firms while Oriana Investments Pte is Aditya Birla Group company. Vodafone Group and the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) own 44.39% and 27.66%, respectively in Vodafone Idea as its co-promoters. The firm said its board has also approved the issue of shares or securities convertible into equity shares, global depository receipts, American depository receipts, foreign currency convertible bonds, non-convertible and convertible debentures, warrants etc worth Rs 10,000 crore in one or more tranches. An extraordinary general meeting will be held on March 26 to approve the fundraising.

SEBI blocks PTC India from holding a board meeting

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has denied permission to PTC India Financial Services (PFS) to hold a board meeting without independent directors, stating that they are not satisfied by the company’s report on actions taken on corporate governance and response to queries on allegations made by former independent directors. SEBI wrote to PFS, the non-banking financial company subsidiary of PTC India, on March 2, barring the company from holding a board meeting without an Independent Director. This is the second time the regulator has denied the exemption to PFS since all three of its independent directors submitted their resignation citing concerns over lapses in governance and compliance on January 19, ahead of a board meeting that was scheduled for January 22. PFS notified the bourses that its request for exemption has been denied but didn’t disclose the reason. “The matter is being taken up with the SEBI for effective resolution and shareholders shall be kept informed in this regard,” the company told bourses. 

Eveready Batteries’ current Chairman, MD resigns, Suvamoy Saha to assume as MD

Eveready Industries India Ltd on Thursday said its Non-Executive Chairman Aditya Khaitan and Managing Director Amritanshu Khaitan have resigned following an open offer from the Burman group. The Burman group, through various entities, had on Monday made a Rs 604.76-crore open offer to acquire around 1.89 crore shares of Eveready Industries, representing 26% of the expanded voting share capital, at a price of Rs 320 per share, payable in cash. In a regulatory filing, Eveready Industries India said,”…Aditya Khaitan and Amritanshu Khaitan have tendered their resignations from the Board, as Non-Executive Director and Chairman and as Managing Director of the company, respectively, w.e.f. March 3, 2022, in view of the above expression of interest, to enable the company to benefit from new leadership and direction.” Stating that their resignations have been accepted, the company said its board has asked Suvamoy Saha, Joint Managing Director of Eveready Industries India, to assume the responsibilities as the Managing Director in the interim period.

LIC appoints insurance veteran Sunil Agrawal as CFO

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) announced on March 3 that it has appointed insurance veteran Sunil Agrawal as the new chief financial officer (CFO), Bloomberg reported. He has been appointed on a contractual basis starting March 2022. LIC had advertised for the appointment of a CFO six months ago in September 2021. The public notice issued by the 65-year-old insurer had stated that the post would be contractual, with a three-year term or till the new LIC CFO reaches 63 years of age. It had further mentioned that the remuneration for the same would be Rs 75 lakh per annum. Notably, this is the first time LIC has hired an outsider for a top finance position. Sunil Agrawal’s previous stint was at Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, where he served as the CFO for more than 12 years till 2018. Before that, he had worked for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance for five years.

Brent crude near $120, analyst expects rise in fuel prices in India

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its eighth day, Brent crude neared the $120 per barrel mark, the highest level since 2013. The May futures contract of Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) on Thursday hit a high of $119.84 per barrel, according to data from Bloomberg. Brent was at $116.11 per barrel, higher by 2.82% around 7 p.m. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also touched a high of $116.57 per barrel during the day. The April contract of WTI on NYMEX was 2.78% higher at $113.68 per barrel around 7 pm.   For India, this incessant rise in oil prices does not augur well, as it is the world’s third-largest oil importer is dependent on imports to meet 85% of oil demand and 55% of natural gas requirements.  The Indian basket of crude, comprising Oman, Dubai and Brent crude too has surpassed the $110 per barrel mark. On Wednesday, it was priced at $111.99 per barrel. It is anticipated that this rise in crude oil prices will lead to a steep increase in retail fuel prices in the country.  Petrol price in Delhi on Thursday was Rs 95.41 per litre, and diesel was at Rs 86.67 per litre. 

Bulk Deal data

SOCIETE GENERALE sold 224,50,200 shares in Vedanta Limited at Rs 391.74 per share on the NSE.

GOENKA BUSINESS & FINANCE LIMITED bought 21,000 shares in Richa Info Systems Ltd at Rs 87.30 per share on the NSE.

SIRAJ VIRJI JARIA sold 15,30,000 shares in Crown Lifters Ltd at Rs 22.70 per share on the NSE.

NIRAJ HARSUKHLAL SANGHAVI bought 1,08,000 shares of SecUR Credentials Limited at Rs 51.00 per share on NSE.

NISHCHAYA TRADINGS PRIVATE LIMITED sold 2,02,616 shares of Salasar Techno Engg. Ltd at Rs 252.82 per share on NSE.

VIKASA INDIA EIF I FUND bought 5,00,000 shares in Shree Ram Proteins Ltd at Rs 113.00 per share on the NSE.

HARSHA RAJESHBHAI JHAVERI sold 82,860 equity shares in Vaishali Pharma Limited at Rs 61.10 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 6,644.65 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 4,799.24 crore in the Indian equity market on March 3, 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 4. 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.