Gold Continues Uptrend, Rupee Hits All-Time Low, Stocks in Focus, and Top Cues to Track Today

Fri, 17 Apr Pre-Open

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Indian share markets traded on a volatile note throughout the day yesterday but ended on a positive note.

Benchmark indices opened on a negative note yesterday tracking global markets as rising coronavirus cases and grim growth projections dampened investor sentiment. However, losses were recovered thereafter as indices rose over 1.5%

Gains were largely seen in the power sector, banking sector and capital goods sector, while IT stocks witnessed selling pressure.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 223 points (up 0.7%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 68 points (up 0.8%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 1.4%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1.7%.

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Top Stocks in Focus Today

Market participants will be tracking Wipro share price as the IT major yesterday reported a 6% drop in quarterly profits to Rs 23.4 billion, while revenues increased 3.6% to Rs 157.1 billion over the year-ago period.

To know more about the company, you can read Wipro's Q4FY20 result analysis on our website.

TCS share price will also be in focus as the company announced its March quarter results (Q4FY20).

From the banking sector, market participants will also track IndusInd Bank share price as Goldman Sachs Singapore Pte picked up shares worth over Rs 1.8 billion through an open market transaction.

According to the bulk deal data on the NSE, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte-ODI bought 4.1 million shares, representing 0.65% stake of IndusInd Bank, at an average price of Rs 430 per share on Wednesday.

Gold Scales New Record High

Gold prices in India moved to new highs yesterday, breaching the Rs 47,000 mark per 10 gram for the first time.

On Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), June gold futures rose as much as Rs 47,095 per 10 gram.

Tracking gold, silver rates also moved higher by 0.2% to Rs 44,120 per kg.

Earlier this week, prices had surged over 2% to Rs 46,255 per 10 gram, hitting a new high of Rs 46,385.

In global markets, gold prices moved higher as downbeat US economic data heightened fears of a deeper global recession due to coronavirus.

Speaking of gold, in his latest video, Vijay Bhambwani explains why the bull market in gold may get bumpy going ahead.

You can check the same here: A Timely Warning About Gold

Rupee Hits Fresh Record Low

The Indian rupee continued its downtrend yesterday and touched a fresh record low of 76.87 against the US dollar.

The rupee also closed near all-time lows at 76.86 per US dollar yesterday.

As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to haunt the global financial markets, the rupee has been hit badly.

Have a look at the chart below:

YTD Performance of the USD/INR

On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the rupee has depreciated sharply against the US dollar. While it started the calendar year 2020 at 71.28 against the US dollar, it is currently hovering around 77-levels.

In a recent article, we dive deeper and look at the factors behind rupee's depreciation. You can check the same here: The Sharp Fall in Indian Rupee: 6 Points to Know

We reached out to Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, who is closely tracking the Indian rupee in the current scenario. Here's what he has to say...

• The onset of Corona virus has not been kind to the INR.
  
  The Rupee futures (USDINR ) opened in March at 72.36 and have closed at 76.61 on April 09 2020. That is a decline of 5.87% in 6 short weeks.
  
  The implications of the same will be widespread. India is a net importing Country. Everything that we import will now be more expensive. Approximately two thirds of all our imports are fossil fuels. Fuels are what we call multiplier effect commodities. If fuel prices rise at the petrol pumps, everything from fruits, vegetables, grains to dairy and poultry products get expensive.
  
  That impact will be felt at a later date. I expect the trickle down effect to start appearing in prices after the April-June quarter is over.
  
  I have already factored in this aspect in my statistical data model and plan to identify such events to generate profitable trading opportunities for my WCA plan subscribers.

March Exports Plunge to a Record Low

India's exports plunged a record 34.6% in March because of a steep decline in shipments of leather, gems and jewellery and petroleum products, dragging the total exports in 2019-20 down to US$ 314.3 billion.

Exports in March stood at US$ 21.4 billion, down 34.6% compared with US$ 32.7 billion in the same month last year.

This is expected to be the steepest fall in monthly exports since 2008-09, when shipments dipped 33.3% in March 2009.

Imports, too, contracted 28.7% to US$ 31.2 billion. This is the steepest decline since November 2015, when imports declined 30.3%.

The dip in exports and imports narrowed the trade deficit in March to US $9.8 billion, the lowest in the last 13 months. It was US $9.6 billion in February last year.

Oil and gold imports contracted 15% and 62.6% to US$10 billion and US$ 1.2 billion, respectively, in March 2019.

For the full fiscal (FY20), imports declined 9.1% to US$ 467.2 billion, narrowing the trade deficit to US$ 152.9 billion against US$ 184 billion in FY19.

How these numbers look in the coming months amid the coronavirus crisis remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Contenders to Succeed CEO Aditya Puri

HDFC Bank has identified three contenders to succeed CEO Aditya Puri.

As per an article in The Economic Times, the three contenders include Sashidhar Jagdishan and Kaizad Bharucha, both executive directors of the bank, and Sunil Garg, global CEO of Citi Commercial Bank.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

• The nomination and recruitment committee (NRC) of the board has already shortlisted these three names with the help of global executive search firm Egon Zehnder and this will be placed before the board this week. The plan is to send the recommendations to the RBI before April end.

The bank constituted a six-member search committee last year to find a replacement. Aditya Puri, who has more than 40 years of experience in the banking sector, is an advisor to the search committee.

The lender's board had recently cleared Jagdishan and Bharucha as executive directors. However, earlier this month, the RBI directed HDFC Bank to keep the appointments in abeyance, saying that the choice of candidates should be left to the incoming chief executive.

We will keep you update on all the developments 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.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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