Markets To March Higher On Positive From Both Domestic And Global Markets

The market sentiments turned bullish breaking three days losing streak after the announcement of International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast for Indian economy growth. The market was trading strong since morning session and all the sectoral indices closed in green yesterday. The IMF raised it forecast for Indian economy growth to 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal as it sees renewing the investment cycle and acceleration for the structural reforms across the country. 

Meanwhile, the February consumer price index (CPI) rose to 5.37 per cent against 5.11 per cent in the previous monthly predominantly due to spike in food inflation. Further, the industry output data (IIP) for January came in at 2.6 percent, higher than street estimates. However, we expect the CPI for March may increase further on the back of country-wide unseasonal rains and hike in petrol and diesel prices in February. The government continued its reform process and the Rajya Sabha passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in a crucial step yesterday. The Lok sabha had already passed the bill earlier. The Bill is expected to hike foreign equity participation of 49 per cent from 24 per cent in Indian insurance companies.

The European markets fell after disappointing U.S. retail sales and mixed corporate news. The French stock market index CAC 40 closed down by 0.21 per cent at 4987. The German stock market index DAX was marginal down by 0.06 per cent at 11799 during the last trading session. The UK FTSE closed at 6761, up by 0.59 per cent.

US markets recorded the biggest gain in more than a month as expectations for a rate hike were pushed back after disappointing data on retail sales. The monthly retailer sales fell for the third consecutive month in February. The Nasdaq closed at 4893, up by 0.89 per cent. The S&P 500 and Dow industrials closed at 2066 and 17895, up by 1.26 and 1.47 per cent respectively.

The Japanese markets were trading in green and the Japanese Nikkei 225 was trading at 19217, up by 1.19 per cent in Friday morning. the Hong Kong stocks were too trading higher and the Hang Seng index was trading at 23809, up by 0.05 per cent. The Australian markets were trading lower and the Australian ASX 200 were at 5818, down by 0.56 per cent.

The SGX Nifty was too trading in green territory with marginal 8.50 points gain on the bourses. We too expect markets to open in green on positive sentiments from both domestic and global markets.