The Indian stock market is likely to open in the green on March 21 as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the domestic indices with a gain of 119 points.
Indian stock, commodity and money markets were closed on Friday, March 18, on account of Holi.
In the previous session on Thursday, the BSE Sensex climbed 1,047 points or 1.84 percent to 57,864, while the Nifty50 jumped 312 points or 1.84 percent to 17,287, the highest level since February 17, and formed bullish candle on the daily charts. The index saw robust bullish candle formation for yet another week, indicating bulls having strong upper hand at Dalal Street.
As per the pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 17,194, followed by 17,100. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,363 and 17,438.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the 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
Wall Street’s three major indexes closed higher on Friday, with the biggest boost from recently battered technology stocks, after talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Ukraine crisis ended without big surprises.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 274.17 points, or 0.8%, to 34,754.93, the S&P 500 gained 51.45 points, or 1.17%, to 4,463.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 279.06 points, or 2.05%, to 13,893.84. Wall Street’s three main indexes boasted their biggest weekly percentage gains since early November 2020 with the S&P adding 6.2% while the Dow rose 5.5% and the Nasdaq jumping 8.2%.
Asian Markets
Asian share markets started the week in a cautious mood on Monday as investors clung to hopes for an eventual peace deal in Ukraine, but the fighting raged on with no sign of stopping.
Japan’s Nikkei was shut, but futures traded around 300 points above the cash close. Most share markets rallied last week in anticipation of an eventual peace deal on Ukraine, but it could take actual progress to justify further gains.
SGX Nifty
Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 119 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 17,401 levels on the Singaporean exchange.
Oil climbs on pressure from Ukraine conflict, tight market
Oil prices jumped $ 2 on Monday as Ukrainian forces dug in against heavy Russian attacks, while major oil producers reported they are struggling to produce their allotted quotas under a supply agreement.
Brent crude futures climbed $ 1.96, or 1.8%, to $ 109.89 a barrel at 0039 GMT, adding to a 1.2% rise last Friday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $ 2.09, or 2%, to $ 106.79, extending a 1.7% jump last Friday.
Global economic fallout of Russia-Ukraine war expected to negatively impact Indian economy: IMF
The global economic fallout of the war in Ukraine is expected to negatively impact India’s economy, while the immediate impact of the conflict on China is likely to be relatively small, the IMF said on Thursday.
The global economic fallout of the war is expected to negatively impact India’s economy through a number of channels, which differ from those impacting the Indian economy during COVID-19, Gerry Rice, International Monetary Fund’s Director of the Communications Department, told reporters here. Rice said the sharp rise in global oil prices represents an important trade shock with macro-economic implications.
It will lead to higher inflation and current account deficit, he said as Russia launched a “special military operation” against Ukraine on February 24. But the impact on the current account could potentially be partially offset by favourable movements in prices of commodities that India exports, for example, wheat, he said.
Advance tax collections jump 41%; net direct tax mop-up soars 48%
India’s collection from tax on personal and corporate income jumped over 48 per cent in the current fiscal after a 41 per cent surge in advance tax payments, mirroring sustained economic recovery in a year that witnessed two waves of coronavirus infections.
Net collections of direct taxes until March 16, 2022 in the fiscal year that started on April 1, 2021 stood at Rs 13.63 lakh crore, compared to Rs 9.18 lakh crore in the same period a year back, an official statement said.
Forex reserves decline $ 9.65 billion to $ 622.27 billion
The country’s foreign exchange reserves declined USD 9.646 billion to USD 622.275 billion in the week ended March 11, according to the latest data from the RBI. In the previous week ended March 4, the reserves rose USD 394 million to USD 631.92 billion. It touched a lifetime high of USD 642.453 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021.
During the reporting week, the decline in the reserves was due to a fall in the foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly data released on Friday showed.
RBI remains net seller of US dollars in January; sells $ 771 million
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remained a net seller of the US currency in January 2022, selling USD 771 million in the spot market. In the reporting month, the central bank bought USD 6.548 billion and sold USD 7.319 billion in the spot market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Bulletin for March 2022 released on Thursday showed.
US weekly jobless claims fall to 214,000
Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs continue to fall amid a strong job market rebound. Jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 214,000 for the week ending March 12, down from the previous week’s 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs.
The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell to 223,000 from the previous week’s 231,750. In total, 1,419,000 Americans a 50-year low were collecting jobless aid the week that ended March 5, down 71,000 from the week before that.
FII and DII data
Buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued for second consecutive session as they have net bought shares worth Rs 2,800.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 678.45 crore on March 17, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
With inputs from Reuters & other agencies
