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Markets end marginally in green on Friday

Indian equity benchmarks managed to end the Friday’s session marginally in green with frontline gauges ending above their crucial 48,800 (Sensex) and 14,600 (Nifty) levels. Markets soon after making a cautious start gained traction as traders took support with government data showing that the country's exports jumped by 60.29 per cent to $34.45 billion in March even as the outbound shipments contracted by 7.26 per cent during the full 2020-21 fiscal to $290.63 billion. Imports too grew by 53.74 per cent to $48.38 billion in March, but dipped by 18 per cent to $389.18 billion during April-March 2020-21. Traders also took note of report that as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) concluded the first security acquisition programme (G-SAP) auction buying of Rs 25,000 crore in government bonds. As part of this, the government is scheduled to buy bonds worth 1 lakh crore from the secondary market in the three months to June 30 (Q1 of the current financial year).

However, markets cut most of their gains in late trade as traders opted to book their profit in riskier assets. Key gauges somehow managed to end above water as traders took some relief report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up the second Regulatory Review Authority (RRA 2.0) with a view to streamlining regulations and reducing compliance burden of regulated entities. The RRA would be set up for a period of one year from May 1, 2021, unless its tenure is extended by the Reserve Bank. Traders also took support with Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that India tackled the first wave of the pandemic with great resilience and came out with strong growth projections, exuding confidence that the MSME sector will battle the second wave with same conviction and lead India to a growth trajectory.

Positive opening in European counters too provided some support with most of the European markets trading higher after strong U.S. and China data spurred optimism about a speedy global recovery, while strong results from Germany’s Daimler boosted carmakers. Asian markets ended higher on Friday after China's gross domestic product expanded 18.3 percent on year in the first quarter of 2021. The National Bureau of Statistics said that was shy of estimates for a jump of 19.0 percent but was up sharply from the 6.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. The bureau also said that industrial production was up 14.1 percent on year in March - missing forecasts for a gain of 17.2 percent and slowing from the 35.1 percent growth in February.

Back home, aviation stocks were in focus with Crisil’s report that lower domestic air traffic compared with pre-pandemic levels, together with high fuel prices and only a gradual recovery in international operations would result in domestic airlines posting Rs 9,500-10,000 crore net loss in FY 2022. Meanwhile, with an aim to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry especially in the times of the pandemic, the Ministry of Tourism has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with online travel companies -- Cleartrip and Ease My Trip.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 28.35 points or 0.06% to 48,832.03, while the CNX Nifty was up by 36.20 points or 0.25% to 14,617.85.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 49,089.55 and 48,694.49, respectively and there 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.17%, while Small cap index was up by 1.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.88%, Utilities up by 1.35%, Consumer Durables up by 1.33%, Power up by 1.28% and Basic Materials up by 1.23%, while Bankex down by 0.51%, Capital Goods down by 0.39%, Realty down by 0.38%, Energy down by 0.13% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.07%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.43%, ONGC up by 2.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.10% and Sun Pharma up by 2.07%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.55%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.09%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.94%, TCS down by 0.80% and SBI down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to streamlining regulations and reducing compliance burden of regulated entities, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up the second Regulatory Review Authority (RRA 2.0). The RRA would be set up for a period of one year from May 1, 2021, unless its tenure is extended by the Reserve Bank.

RBI said the RRA will engage internally as well as externally with all regulated entities and other stakeholders to facilitate the process. It added the RRA will focus on streamlining regulatory instructions, reduce compliance burden of the regulated entities by simplifying procedures and reduce reporting requirements, wherever possible. It will also obtain feedback from regulated entities on simplification of procedures and enhancement of ease of compliance.

The RBI had set up a Regulations Review Authority (RRA) initially for a period of one year from April 1, 1999, for reviewing regulations, circulars, reporting systems, based on the feedback from public, banks and financial institutions. The recommendations of the RRA enabled streamlining and increasing the effectiveness of several procedures, simplifying regulatory prescriptions, paved the way for issuance of master circular and reduced reporting burden on regulated entities.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 14,559.00 and 14,697.70 and there were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 8.94%, Hindalco up by 4.65%, Asian Paints up by 2.94%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.69% and Cipla up by 2.61%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.54%, ICICI Bank down by 1.43%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.13%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.94% and Tata Steel down by 0.89% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 27.40 points or 0.39% to 7,010.90, France’s CAC increased 13.77 points or 0.22% to 6,247.91 and Germany’s DAX was up by 95.12 points or 0.62% to 15,350.45.

Asian markets ended higher on Friday as strong US and Chinese economic data cemented expectations of a solid global economic recovery. The National Bureau of Statistics said that China's gross domestic product expanded 18.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021. That was shy of estimates for a jump of 19.0 percent but was up sharply from the 6.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. Japanese markets ended marginally higher as the country considers stricter Covid-19 measures for areas surrounding Tokyo. Investors awaited the outcome of a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden, set for the weekend.

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