Moneycontrol Bureau
12:50pm Market Expert: In the wake of the US dollar rally and the absence of any particular positive news, Indian shares may “drift lower than most investors will be comfortable with”, Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities told CNBC-TV18.
But he added that a correction will not change the larger thesis that local equities are in a long-term bull market.
“The market is not going to go up in a vertical line. Bull markets can test patience. But the beauty is correction gives you the chance to get in,” he said.
Sheth also spoke about insurance stocks, which have seen a powerful rally amid hopes a bill to increase FDI in the sector will pass muster in the Rajya Sabha. “There is a lot of juice left in insurance stocks [despite the rally],” he said, adding that the growth of insurance was a long-term story in India.
12:25pm CPI data today: The consumer price index (CPI) data and the index of industrial production (IIP) numbers will be released today. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 on the expectation, Samiran Chakraborty of Standard Chartered Bank said the CPI is expected to come in inch to 5.25 percent versus 5.11 percent in the previous month.
According to him, the rise in CPI data is likely to be on account of rising food inflation. He expects food prices to rise 6.5 percent year-on-year but stay flat month-on-month. To add to macro woes, he expects CPI to stay above 5 percent for March as well. CPI is likely to trend below 5 percent from April till September.
Chakraborty believes CPI over 5.5 percent may push the Reserve Bank (RBI) to pause rate cuts. However, sub-5 percent CPI will be positive for the market, he added.
On IIP, Chakraborty is expecting a subdued data on the back of weak exports and poor infrastructure growth.
12:00pm Market Check:
It is a strong day of trade on Dalal Street. The Nifty and the Sensex bounced back led by gains in select FMCG and energy stocks. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks, up 1 percent with the advance decline ratio at a healthy 3:1.
The Sensex jumped 172.88 points to 28832.05 and the Nifty rallied 49.25 points to 8749.20.
NTPC rallied nearly 4 percent as the company announced the ex-date of bonus debentures as March 23. Shareholders entitled to a bonus debenture of Rs 12.5 per share. The stock gained as traders played the arbitrage of going long on cash and short in the futures market.
ITC climbed 2.5 percent as CNBC-TV18 learnt that the company has hiked cigarette prices by up to 20 percent. Sources see at least a 15 percent hike on an average. Fresh cigarette stock with price hike is yet to reach the market.
Insurance companies like Max India and Reliance Capital surged 7 percent on hopes that the Insurance Bill, which seeks to raise FDI limit to 49 percent from 26 percent, is likely to be passed in the Rajya Sabha today.
Jindal Stainless shot up 15 percent after India's trade ministry recommended anti-dumping duty on hot rolled flat products of stainless steel imports. Other steel companies rallied on hopes that the anti-dumping duty may be extended to steel imports as well. Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel gained 3 percent each.
Meanwhile, the rupee gained strength after opening flat today, up 24 paise to 62.54 a dollar.
Asian markets gained boosted by better-than-expected jobs data from Australia and an unexpected rate cut in South Korea. Brent jumped to USD 58 per barrel while gold traded near a 3-month low.
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