The Indian stock market is expected to open in the green as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the index in India with a 227 points gain.
The BSE Sensex plunged 1,939.32 points, or 3.80 percent, to 49,099.99 on February 26 while the Nifty50 fell 568.20 points, or 3.76 percent, to 14,529.20.
According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,358.17, followed by 14,187.13. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,809.87 and 15,090.53.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:
US Markets
The tech-heavy Nasdaq index rallied in choppy trading on Friday, even as sentiment remained fragile after the index’s worst performance in four months the day before as fears of rising inflation kept U.S. bond yields near a one-year high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 469.64 points lower, or 1.5%, to 30,932.37, the S&P 500 lost 18.19 points, or 0.48%, to 3,811.15 and the Nasdaq Composite added 72.91 points, or 0.56%, to 13,192.34.
Asian Markets
Asian shares firmed on Monday as some semblance of calm returned to bond markets after last week’s wild ride, while progress in the huge U.S. stimulus package underpinned optimism about the global economy.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1%, after shedding 3.7% last Friday. Japan’s Nikkei rallied 2.0%, while NASDAQ futures bounced 0.8% and S&P 500 futures 0.7%.
SGX Nifty
Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the index in India with a 227 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 14,752 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.
India’s economy returns to growth after shrinking for two quarters
India’s economy returned to growth in its fiscal third quarter after a recession earlier in 2020 and the recovery is expected to gather pace as consumer demand and investments shake off the effects of the pandemic, economists said.
Gross domestic product grew 0.4% in October-December compared with the same period a year earlier, data released by the National Statistics Office on Friday showed. That compared with revised contractions of 7.3% in July-September and 24.4% in April-June.
Real estate sector sees improvement in October-December quarter on rise in demand
India’s GDP growth numbers, released on February 26 by the Central Statistics Office, have shown that whilst the overall economy has shown a growth of 0.4 percent year-on-year for the third quarter, the construction and financial, real estate and professional services have shown a growth of 6.2 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively during the period, placing them among the top three contributors to the GDP.
“The latest GDP numbers released by the Indian government reinforce the optimism that prevails in businesses that the worst has passed for the Indian economy and that we are now on a recovery and growth path. This performance underscores the need for support to the construction and real estate industries to ensure that that they continue contributing to nation building,” said Sankey Prasad, FRICS, chairman and managing director (India) at Colliers.
Eight core industries’ output up 0.1% in January
The output of eight core infrastructure sectors grew marginally by 0.1 percent in January, mainly due to growth in the production of fertiliser, steel and electricity. The core sectors had expanded by 2.2 percent in January 2020, according to the provisional data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Friday.
Coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, and cement recorded negative growth in January.
India’s crude steel output grows 7.6% to 10 MT in January: Worldsteel
India registered a growth of 7.6 per cent in crude steel production at 10 million tonne (MT) in January 2021, according to World Steel Association (worldsteel). The country had produced 9.3 MT crude steel during the same month last year.
”The production for the 64 countries reporting to the worldsteel was 162.9 MT in January 2021, registering a 4.8 per cent increase compared to January 2020,” the global industry body said in its latest report.
FPIs net buyers for 2nd consecutive month in February, invest Rs 23,663 crore
Remaining net buyers for second consecutive month in this calendar year, overseas investors pumped in Rs 23,663 crore in Indian markets in February on account of positive sentiment due to the Union Budget 2021-22 and strong third quarter earnings. Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) invested a net Rs 25,787 crore into equities but pulled out Rs 2,124 crore from the bonds market during February 1-26, the depositories data showed.
Retail payments: RBI extends deadline to submit application for NPCI-like umbrella entity
The Reserve Bank of India has extended the deadline for submitting applications to set up a pan-India umbrella entity for retail payments similar to the National Payments Corporation of India (India). The new deadline is March 31. Stakeholders, including Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) had requested RBI to extend the deadline, which was to expire on February 26.
The central bank said: “Requests have been received from various stakeholders, including the IBA, for extending the timeline, keeping in view the covid-19 related disruptions and inconveniences. It has accordingly decided to extend the timeline for making the application up to March 31”.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 8,295.17 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,499.7 crore in the Indian equity market on February 26, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
With inputs from Reuters & other agencies
