Closing market podcast for April 10, 2018

Another strong day for Indian equity markets with Nifty closing above its crucial resistance level of 10400 on Tuesday, although it did pare some gains from its intraday high. The S&P BSE Sensex rose nearly 100 points, led by gains in banks, metals, realty and capital goods stocks.

Banking stocks mildly outperform with ICICI Bank and Axis Bank leading the charge from the front. Axis Bank was the top Sensex gainer, up 5.4%, followed by ICICI Bank which closed 3.01% higher.

Even though market closed in green but the market breadth remained in favour of declines with the advance-decline ratio at 1:1. HDFC twins kept Nifty & Nifty bank gains in check; both stocks down 1% each.

Global equity markets along with India rallied after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s promised to cut import tariffs which eased investor concerns about an escalating U.S.-China trade row.

Speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province, Xi vowed to open China’s economy, protect the intellectual property of foreign firms and he criticized isolationism in his first public comments since the trade dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration erupted, said a Reuters report.

"Stock markets in Asia, including those in India, opened the day on a buoyant note. Positive investor sentiment was given a fillip after comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping on measures planned to further open up the Chinese economy assuaged fears of an escalating US-China trade row," Anand Shah, Deputy CEO & Head of Investments, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund told Moneycontrol.

"While benchmark indices in India opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade, they subsequently succumbed to profit booking at higher levels to finally close the day with marginal gains. The auto and healthcare indices on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the day in the red, while the metals and banking indices witnessed sharp gains," he said.

Sectorally, the S&P BSE Metal index rallied 2%, followed by BSE Realty index which gained 1.2%, BSE Capital Goods index closed 1.08% higher, and banking index ended higher by nearly 1%.

The S&P BSE Auto index closed 0.6% lower, followed by Consumer discretionary which closed 0.35% down, and healthcare stocks closed flat with a negative bias.

The S&P BSE Midcap index rose 0.18%, and the S&P BSE Smallcap index slipped 0.2% in red.