Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets held gains throughout the day with Nifty and Sensex settling above the psychological 24,900 and 81,800 levels respectively. Positive global markets offered some support to the markets. Markets traded with volatility during the day ahead of US Fed's monetary policy announcement later in the day. Though the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.  As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index witnessed hefty buying.  

Markets made positive start and extended their gains tracking gains in Asian counterparts and a continued fall in oil prices, which slid about 1 percent to settle at a seven-month low on Tuesday on worries that demand from China could be weakening. Sentiments got boost as the government has garnered Rs 98,681 crore from long term capital gains tax on listed equities in 2022-23, a 15 per cent growth over the previous year.  Besides, government said the rupee remains one of the best performing currencies in 2024, with a much lower depreciation against the dollar than the currencies of Japan and South Korea. In afternoon session, indices continued their fine fettle trade on account of buying in front line counters. Some support came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that incentives worth Rs 9,721 crore have been claimed under the PLI scheme for nine sectors, including large scale electronics manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. In late afternoon session, markets reached at day’s high levels. Traders got encouragement as India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) upped India's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.5 per cent from 7.1 per cent projected earlier on expectation of improved consumption demand. It said ongoing growth momentum led by government capex, deleveraged balance sheets of corporates/banks, and incipient private corporate capex cycle has now found support from the union government budget.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher driven by a raft of corporate updates, while heavyweight ASML led overall gains on report that the Dutch chip equipment manufacturer would be exempted from a new U.S. rule on foreign chip equipment exports. Asian markets ended mostly in green as investors digested encouraging earnings results and awaited central bank decisions in the U.S. and U.K. Back home, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a Master Direction on the treatment of wilful defaulters and large defaulters under which banks and NBFCs will have to examine the wilful default aspect in all non-performing asset accounts with outstanding amounts of Rs 25 lakh and above.

The BSE Sensex ended at 81,741.34, up by 285.94 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 81,434.32 and 81,828.04. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.86%, while Small cap index was down by 0.14%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.57%, Power up by 1.46%, Metal up by 1.12%, Healthcare up by 0.91%, Basic Materials up by 0.74% while, Realty down by 0.41%, Telecom down by 0.12%, Energy down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 3.64%, Asian Paints up by 2.59%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.28%, NTPC up by 2.25% and Adani Ports up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.51%, Reliance Industries down by 0.51%, Infosys down by 0.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.36% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.31% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the negotiations to review the free trade agreements (FTAs) implemented with Japan, Korea, and Asean are moving slow but India is pursuing those talks. He said these agreements were signed and implemented during the UPA regime.
He added these pacts are hurting the domestic industry and almost all firms stated that they are 'unfair' agreements. He also said ‘I am helpless as those agreements (came into effect) before we came to power. I am helpless to change it until we close the negotiations’.
He further said ‘We are under re-negotiations but obviously when they (Japan, Korea, Asean) realise that the Congress's agreement was better for them (Japan, Korea, Asean), they are happier to keep that rather than change the agreements... they are going very slow, (but) we are also pursuing’.

The CNX Nifty ended at 24,951.15, up by 93.85 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 24,856.50 and 24,984.60. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 2.90%, Asian Paints up by 2.64%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.62%, NTPC up by 2.22% and SBI Life up by 1.89%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 0.99%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.79%, Grasim Industries down by 0.51%, Reliance Industries down by 0.51% and Tata Consumer down by 0.50% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 115.38 points or 1.39% to 8,389.79, France’s CAC rose 92.65 points or 1.24% to 7,567.59 and Germany’s DAX was up by 83.57 points or 0.45% to 18,494.75. 

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to US Federal Reserve meeting later in the day for further clarity regarding when the Fed will begin cutting interest rates. Japanese shares rallied and the yen turned volatile after the country's central bank hiked its key interest rate to 0.25% in a surprise move and announced plans to reduce its massive bond-buying program. Meanwhile, the Biden administration planned to exempt chip equipment makers from Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea from upcoming export restrictions. Chinese and Hong Kong shares rebounded as soft Chinese PMI fuelled bets on more stimulus measures.