IGI Logo

Indian markets ended higher on Thursday to extend recent gains, with upbeat earnings results from U.S. tech companies and short covering on the last day of the April series derivative contracts offering support. Today, markets are likely to get optimistic start tracking firm global cues. Investors await more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues, with Ultratech Cement SBI Cards, Star Health, Supreme Industries, M&M Financial Services, Vedant Fashions, L&T Finance Holdings, among others will report the January-March quarter (Q4FY23) results. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 1,652.95 crore on April 27, according to provisional data from National Stock Exchange. Traders may take note of report that India will soon open a fresh window for inviting new applications for FY24 towards importing gold from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through an import quota system - tariff rate quota (TRQ) - as a part of the trade agreement between both countries. Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department will soon notify rules specifying the class of investors and norm of valuation for implementation of the Budget provision of taxing foreign investment in unlisted companies. The modified valuation rules would provide for ascertaining the fair market value (FMV) of shares of unlisted companies to levy tax on non-resident investments. However, there may be some cautiousness as Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is looking closely at banks’ business models to flag any deficiencies that could impact financial resilience, but added that domestic lenders can maintain minimum capital even under severe stress conditions. There will be some reaction real estate industry stocks as on six years of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), real estate industry body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) voiced that timely approval for projects by authorities has been a big challenge for the industry and said authorities are more buyer-friendly than developers.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday as upbeat earnings from Meta Platforms lifted technology stocks. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Friday ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting later today and the Fed and ECB meetings, due next week.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks traded firm on the monthly expiry day and gained over a half a percent as strong earnings from major firms overshadowed rising recession fears in the US. After the flat start, the key gauges continued to inch higher throughout the day, as traders took encouragement with Additional Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajeev Singh Thakur stating that the government has released Rs 2,874.71 crore to the beneficiaries of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme till March, with a majority of companies from eight sectors like electronics, telecom, pharma and food processing. Some optimism also came with the commerce and industry ministry stating that various initiatives taken by the government to improve its logistics efficiency has helped India climb six places on the recently released World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2023. India has climbed six places on the LPI, now ranking 38th in the 139 countries index, as a result of significant investments in both soft and hard infrastructure as well as technology. Markets extended gains in late afternoon session, taking support from Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the Indian banking system has remained resilient and not adversely impacted by recent events in the global financial ecosystem. Some comfort also came as India and the four-nation bloc EFTA discussed ways to resume negotiations for a free trade agreement with a view to strengthening economic ties between the two regions. Meanwhile, the Centre gave its nod to the National Medical Devices Policy 2023 with an aim to achieve 10-12 per cent share in the growing global market over the next 25 years. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 348.80 points or 0.58% to 60,649.38 and the CNX Nifty was up by 101.45 points or 0.57% to 17,915.05.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer