Market

Indian domestic indices may open lower on Thursday tracking weakness in Nifty futures trading on Singapore Exchange. Asian shares held near 4-1/2-month highs on Thursday after US Federal Reserve minutes affirmed it would be patient on interest rate rises. Oil prices hovered just below 2019 highs on Thursday, bolstered by OPEC-led supply cuts and US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. Gold prices were firm near a 10-month peak on Thursday, with the dollar holding steady in the wake of minutes from the latest US Federal Reserve meeting that rekindled expectations of a possible rate hike later in the year. Snapping a four-session downturn, the rupee appreciated by 23 paise to end 71.11 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid easing oil prices and a firm greenback. Back home, bearish trends in the SGX Nifty Index Futures for February delivery, were trading at 10,731.00 low 36.00 by or 0.33 per cent, at 11:02 AM, Singapore Time, also indicated a negative start for local bourses. On the government front, the Centre on February 20, announced final recapitalisation tranche amount of Rs 48,239 crore for as many as 12 public sector banks, in a bid to take them out of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) prompt corrective action framework. With two major cases at the final stage of resolution, the Finance Ministry expects bad loan recoveries to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore during the current fiscal. So far, banks have recovered Rs 1 lakh crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). India 10-year bonds' yields fell 0.03 per cent to 7.55 per cent on Wednesday from 7.58 per cent over the previous trading session, according to RBI data.

On the corporate front, IL&FS Financial Services is unable to service obligation on interest payment of NCDs worth Rs 4.2 crore. Government extends exemption on some imported grades of Tata Steel until April 17, 2019. Moody's changes JSW Steel’s outlook to positive; affirms all ratings. Moody's affirms Yes Bank's ratings; outlook changed to stable from negative. The 30-share index settled at 35756.26 up by 403.65 points or by 1.14 per cent and then NSE Nifty was at 10735.45 up by 131.1 points or by 1.24 per cent.

Top traded Volumes on NSE Nifty – YES Bank Ltd. 48429455.00, Vedanta Ltd. 17251557.00, State Bank of India 15514595.00, Tata Steel Ltd. 15487251.00, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. 14236359.00,

On NSE, total number of shares traded was 137.85 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs. 26796.15 Crore.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 265361 with a total turnover of Rs. 18384.10 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 827302 with a total turnover of Rs. 45498.74 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 14539167 with a total turnover of Rs. 904128.31 Crore. and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 764615 with a total turnover of Rs. 43365.52 Crore.

As on February 20, 2019, the FIIs stood as net buyer in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs. 10460.91 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs. 528.35 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs. 12019.56 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 639.77 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs. -1558.65 Crore and Rs. -111.42.