The Indians Are Coming

Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a positive note.

Benchmark indices edged higher after the RBI's decision regarding various policy rates received favourable response by market participants.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 460 points (up 0.9%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 138 points (up 0.9%).

JSW Steel and Wipro were among the top gainers today.

Adani Ports, on the other hand, was the top loser today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,875, up by 130 points, at the time of writing.

The <>BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.8%, while the <>BSE Small Cap index ended higher by 1.3%.

On the sectoral front, all sectors were trading in green with stocks from the auto sector, banking sector and finance sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of Graphite India and Vinati Organics hit their 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today.

The Nikkei was up by 0.1%, while the Hang Seng ended the day lower by 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite ended down by 0.1%.

US stock futures are trading on a flat note today with the Dow Jones Futures trading up by 26 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.42 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.9% at Rs 46,345 per 10 grams.

Speaking of gold, Brijesh Bhatia, in one of his videos, explains why he believes gold could test US$ 2,500 in COMEX and Rs 60,000 per 10 grams in the long-term.

As per Brijesh, the weekly chart of COMEX and MCX are both indicating a bullish scenario for gold and he believes there are four reasons why gold is an excellent buy at these levels.

Tune in to the video below to find out more.

Key Updates from RBI Monetary Policy Committee Meeting

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its policy rate unchanged at 4% and voted unanimously to maintain the status quo with an accommodative stance in its monetary policy meeting today.

The reverse repo rate remained unchanged at 3.5%, while the marginal standing facility and bank rate remained unchanged at 4.25%.

This is the fifth MPC meeting where the central bank has kept the key interest rate (repo) unchanged in a row.

The MPC in a statement said that the evolving CPI inflation trajectory is likely to be subjected to both upside and downside pressures. The bumper food grains production in 2020-21 should sustain softening of cereal prices going forward.

Governor of RBI, Shaktikanta Das said the rural demand remains buoyant and record agriculture production in 2020-21 bodes well for its resilience. Urban demand has gained traction and should get a fillip with the ongoing vaccination drive. The recent surge in COVID-19 infection, however, adds uncertainty to the domestic growth outlook amidst tightening of restrictions by some state governments.

The MPC remained firm on their view of country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at 10.5% for FY22.

In news from the hospitality sector...

Barbeque Nation Hospitality was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Casual dining chain Barbeque Nation Hospitality made a lackluster debut on the bourses today. The stock of the company was listed at 2% discount over its issue price but bounced back during the closing market hours and ended 20% higher on the BSE.

Barbeque Nation share listed at Rs 489.8 apiece on NSE, a 2% discount against issue price of Rs 500. Due to stock market's positive upward rally post the RBI policy outcome, the share price of the stock surged 20% to Rs 587.8 on NSE in today's intraday session.

The initial public offering (IPO) of the company was held via book building process. The price band of the IPO was fixed at Rs 498-500 per share.

The IPO was registered with subscription of 5.9 times on its last day on March 26. It received bids for 29.9 million equity shares against the offer size of 5 million equity shares. Out of the reserved portion, non-institutional investors part and retail investors part was subscribed by 3.1 times and 13.1, respectively.

The Rakesh Jhunjhunwala backed firm raised Rs 4.5 billion from its IPO held from 24 March to 26 March 2021.

How the stock performs in the coming days remains to be seen. Stay tuned as we keep you updated on all the news from this space.

Moving on to news from the macroeconomic space...

The International Monetary Funds (IMF) has anticipated India's GDP growth at 12.5% in FY22.

The forecast, published in the IMF's World Economic Outlook, indicates that India will once again be the world's fastest growing economy. In fact, India is the only country among the world's major economies expected to grow at a two-digit rate during FY22. China is very close, with an economic growth rate of 8.4%.

The IMF forecast is 1% higher as compared to its previous forecast in January 2021.

These projections come at a time when India sees a second wave of coronavirus and it should be treated as a positive outcome for Indian economy, but much will depend on how India manages to contain the current spike in Covid-19 cases. Curfews, mini lockdowns have already returned to some provinces with almost 1 lakh cases coming every day now.

Speaking of current GDP level, can the above prediction be termed as the turning point of India's economic story?

From being largely isolated from the outside world, India became one of the fastest growing economy in the world in the last few years.

Exports have also become a big contributor to India's GDP. From contributing around 7% of GDP before 1991, exports contribute close to 20% of GDP now, as we can see from the chart below.

Is This the 1991 Moment for India gain?

Tanushree Banerjee, co-head of research at Equitymaster, believes that if things go India's way, the aftereffect of the coronavirus will have an even bigger impact than 1991.

How this development pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you posted on all the news from this space. Stay tuned!

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.