Rahul Gupta, Head Of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services

The RBI policy was very interesting and it felt like a quantitative easing programme. The key takeaway is that the RBI will continue to maintain the ultra-loose monetary policy and infuse liquidity for a long time as the COVID surge will keep imparting uncertainty to the growth outlook. The RBI has reiterated that growth is the priority. Also, CPI Q4 FY22 projection has been reduced to 5% from 5.2% earlier which means inflation will be moderated in the future, and this statement rules out any monetary tightening speculations. The forex market wasn't expecting such a dovish stance and the rupee got set on fire. The resistance in the USDINR spot has become support as RBI intervention was missing. The post-policy knee jerk reaction will simmer and the USDINR spot will trade in between 73.50-74.50.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Markets witnessed a healthy rebound and gained nearly a percent, taking a breather after the recent dip. The banking stocks led the charge, thanks to the dovish monetary policy wherein the RBI left rates unchanged and maintained its accommodative stance. Finally, the Nifty index ended higher by 0.9 percent at 14,819 levels. With RBI policy behind us, the investors' focus would shift back to fundamentals and global cues. The rising COVID-19 cases and earnings announcement from companies would dictate the trend ahead. A decisive break above 14,900 in Nifty may result in a sustainable surge else consolidation will continue. Meanwhile, prefer hedged positions and focus more on the selection of stocks.

Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments

The Index moved up smartly but failed to get past 14,900-14,950. If we can conquer that level, we will scale higher to 15,300-15,400. The markets might face some resistance around the current juncture. On the downside, 14,600-14,700 has become a good support for the Nifty and if we disrespect this zone, we could break further and go down to 14,200-14,300.

Sugandha Sachdeva, Vice president - Commodity and Currency Research at Religare Broking

The Indian rupee has went on to witness steep depreciation towards five-month lows as rising Covid-19 cases in the country have created an atmosphere of lingering uncertainty, posing risks to an already fragile state of recovery. Besides, the RBI in its monetary policy review has maintained a status-quo on policy rates for the fifth consecutive meeting, amid the pressures arising from the second wave of the virus which are likely to crimp demand and hurt the domestic currency. Facing the hurdle at 72.20 mark, the domestic currency has reversed course in a rather steep manner and looks poised to witness further depreciation in coming days, even as sustained portfolio inflows are still underpinning the local unit. Going forward, the domestic currency has near term support pegged at 74.50, while it is expected to trickle down further on the downwards trajectory in case of any breach of the same.

Market At Close

- Market Closes Higher But Off Highs; ICICI, Infosys & RIL Top Contributors

- RBI’s Accommodative Stance Leads To A Gain In Bks; Nifty Bank Up Over 1.5%

- Midcaps Continue To Outperform Frontliners; Mkt Breadth Favours Advances

- Sensex Closes 460 Pts Higher At 49,662 & Nifty 136 Pts Higher At 14,819

- Nifty Bank Rises 490 Points To 32,991 & Midcap Index 317 Points To 24,333

- All Sectoral Indices In the Green; PSU Bank & Auto Top Gaining Indices

- Metals Continue The Gaining Momentum; JSW Steel Top Nifty Gainer, Up 5%

- Rupee Weakness Lifts IT Stocks; Nifty IT Up Over 1%

- Bharti Airtel Rises 2% & RIL 1% After 800 MHz Spectrum Deal

- Adani Group Stocks Under Pressure; Adani Ports Falls 9% From Highs

- Info Edge & Jubilant Food Rise On BMC’s 24x7 Home Delivery Comment

- IDFC First Bank Gains 4% After Q4 Biz Update; Deposits Up 43% YoY

Closing Bell | The Indian benchmark equity indices ended higher Wednesday led across the board gains after the RBI kept policy rates unchanged but committed to a massive government bond purchase programme. The Sensex surged 460.37 points, or 0.94 percent to 49,661.76, while the Nifty ended 135.55 points, or 0.92 percent higher at 14,819.05. Broader markets supported the rally with midcap and smallcap indices ending over 1 percent higher each.

All the sectoral indices closed in the green led by banks, auto, IT and metal indices. On the Nifty50 index, JSW Steel, Wipro, SBI, IndusInd Bank and SBI Life were the top gainers, while Adani Ports, Tata Cnsumer, UPL, Titan and NTPC were the top losers.

Market Watch: Sanjiv Bhasin, Director, IIFL Securities

- The cost of money for HDFC Bank from this quarter onwards is the lowest it has been in 15 quarters. We have a buy and we think you will get Rs 100 by next week and we think that the underperformance of the Bank Nifty is time to put your money where your mouth is. I think HDFC Bank and IDFC First Bank are going to be outperformers from this quarter onward.

- M&M and Ashok Leyland are two names we are bullish on. We think another 20 percent upside in M&M by next 2 months is on the cards.

- Divi’s Laboratories is the largest player in the API constituent and it’s here to outperform. We have a target of Rs 4,500 and it may come within 4 months. The numbers from Divi’s will be strong this quarter, so aside from Laurus Labs, I would suggest Divi’s.

Dixon Technologies’ CFO expects Rs 800-1,000 crore revenue in FY22 from Bharti Enterprises JV

Dixon Technologies has tied up with Bharti Enterprises to form a joint venture company to manufacture telecom and networking products like modem, routers, set top box, etc. Dixon will own 74 percent of the company and Bharti Enterprises will have the rest of the 26 percent. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Saurabh Gupta, CFO of Dixon Technologies said that the joint venture will trigger domestic manufacturing for telecom and networking products and strengthen India’s electronic manufacturing sector.

“The joint venture company that we will form with Bharti Enterprises, we have filed all the necessary applications with the ministry of communications --that is the nodal ministry, to avail the benefits under the telecom PLI scheme of the Government of India. This would trigger more domestic manufacturing for telecom and networking products and this will strengthen India’s electronic manufacturing sector and contribute to the government’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” he said. Read more.

Global growth hopes keep shares near record high

World stocks took a well-earned rest near record highs on Wednesday, as an International Monetary Fund forecast of the strongest global growth since the 1970's this year and steady bond and FX markets kept risk appetite buoyant. While rising global COVID case numbers and geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan and between Russia and Ukraine ensured it was by no means a fairytale, markets certainly had a Goldilocks feel again, Reuters reported. Europe's STOXX 600 perched just below the first record high it had hit in over a year on Tuesday. MSCI's 50-country world index was grinding out a sixth day of gains and Wall Street futures were pointing higher too.

IDFC First Bank | The bank’s customer deposits in Q4FY21 rose 6.91 percent QoQ and 43.15 percent YoY. CASA deposits increased 13.46 percent QoQ and 122.74 percent YoY. Average CASA ratio was up 557 bps QoQ and 2,251 bps YoY.

Nitin Shanbhag, Head - Investment Products, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management

While a status quo in terms of policy rates was factored in, the big positive has come in terms of the transparency of the OMO calendar through the G-sec acquisition programme (GSAP), which is likely to support and stabilize long term yields. In this regard, RBI has announced GSAP of Rs. 1 lakh cr in 1Q FY22, of which Rs. 25,000 cr would be conducted on 15th April’21. This has provided some relief to the 10-year g-sec yield.

Proposed US corporate tax rate hike may not dent IT companies’ demand strength: CLSA

Brokerage firm CLSA, in a recent report, stated that the proposal by the Biden administration to raise corporate tax rates in the United States (US) from the present 21 percent to 28 percent is unlikely to impact Indian IT companies. The brokerage remains bullish on large-cap IT firms and prefers Infosys, HCL, and Tech Mahindra in the sector. Drawing comparisons with the 2017 tax cut imposed by the Trump administration, CLSA said that even then it had a limited direct impact on the revenue growth of Indian IT companies. Read more.

Shilpa Medicare can make 100-200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, says executive

Indian drugmaker Shilpa Medicare Ltd has the capacity to manufacture 100-200 million doses of a protein-based vaccine for COVID-19, a company executive told Reuters on Wednesday. "For recombinant vaccines, anywhere between 100 and 200 million doses is a fair volume capacity (for Shilpa) ... depending on the vaccine type," Vinay Konaje, managing director of Shilpa Biologicals, a unit of Shilpa Medicare, said in an interview. Read more.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Broking & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Barbeque Nation, one of India’s leading casual dining restaurant chains, made a decent debut today after an initial hiccup. The stock surged 20 percent to Rs 590.40 after listing at a marginal discount of 2 percent at Rs 492. The IPO issue price was at Rs500 per share. The company had raised Rs 452 crore through the IPO last month which had seen subdued demand and was subscribed just 6 times. At current price the stock trades at 3.4x EV/Sales which is at a discount to other peers like Jubilant Foodworks (Domino’s) and Westlife Development (McDonalds). However the company has reported net loss in three out of the four previous fiscals. That apart the second wave of pandemic has raised the risk of further slower growth in the near term. While valuations appear cheap, investors only with a long term horizon may look at the stock.

CLSA gives 'buy' rating for Dr Reddy’s Laboratories

Brokerage firm CLSA has given a ‘buy’ rating for Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, stating that the management aspires for a sustainable 25 percent EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) margins. The keys to achieving this goal would be improved profitability in India, ROW and APIs along with sustaining current US margins. CLSA has set a price target of Rs 5,830 for the stock.

The brokerage note states: “We estimate FY2021 India margins at 24 percent, well below peers. A shift towards larger brands, a stronger therapy focus after the Wockhardt acquisition, and improved field force productivity may lift margins to 25 percent to 26 percent by FY2023.” Continue reading.

Macrotech Developers IPO subscribed 22% on day 1 so far; QIB portion booked 58%

The initial public offering (IPO) of Lodha Group’s Macrotech Developers has been subscribed 22 percent so far on April 7, the first day of bidding. The company plans to raise Rs 2,500 crore through its public issue which will close on April 9. The offer has received bids for 81.72 lakh equity shares so far as against offer size to 3.64 crore equity shares, as per the subscription data available on exchanges. The portion set aside for retail investors has been booked 9 percent, while that of qualified institutional buyers has been subscribed 58 percent. Non-institutional investors have put in bids for 7 percent of the reserved portion and employees’ portion is booked 1 percent till 1:30 pm. The company reduced the offer size to 3.64 crore equity shares from 5.16 crore after it raised Rs 741 crore from anchor investors on April 6.

Oil prices rise on stronger economic outlook, US stockpile draw

Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday on the prospects for stronger global economic growth amid increased COVID-19 vaccinations and a report that crude inventories in the United States, the world's biggest fuel consumer, fell. But optimism about talks between the United States and Iran over Iran's nuclear programme and an impending increase in supply by major oil producers capped gains, said a Reuters report.

Invest in bouquet of value and growth businesses: Abakkus’ Sunil Singhania

Invest in a bouquet of value and growth businesses, said Sunil Singhania, founder of Abakkus Asset Management, on Wednesday. Singhania also said that testing and path lab companies are seeing increase in revenues. Speaking in an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, “Invest in a bouquet where there is value and where there is growth and that is where the mid and smallcaps are at this point of time. Yes, stocks are more expensive than they were 6-8 months back but there are more than enough companies where you can justify being of good value and where returns can be good.” Read more.

Adani Group becomes 3rd Indian conglomerate to cross $100 bn in m-cap

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s ports-to-energy conglomerate has become India’s third group to cross USD 100 billion in market capitalisation with shares of four of its six listed companies soaring to an all-time high on Tuesday. The total market cap of Adani Group’s six listed companies at the close of trading on Tuesday was Rs 7.84 lakh crore or USD 106.8 billion, according to stock exchange data.

Adani Group is the third Indian conglomerate to cross the USD 100 billion market cap mark after Tata Group and Reliance Industries Ltd. After starting out as a commodities trader in the late 1980s, Gautam Adani has over two decades built an empire that now spans from mines, ports and power plants to airports, data centre, city gas and defence. Read more.

Sandeep Bagla, CEO, TRUST Mutual Fund

Interest rates are likely to remain range bound going forward as RBI is committed to ensure easy liquidity and low repo rates. The increase in Government borrowings are likely to be partially offset by RBI OMOs and secondary market purchases of Government securities.

Inclusion of government securities global bond indices will add to the demand. Corporate bond spreads are likely to remain at moderate levels on back of restrained supply and continued demand from institutional investors. Unless inflation expectations start increasing in the future, fixed income investors will do well to remain invested in Indian bonds.

Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities

The outcome of the MPC meet was on expected lines as far as repo rates and stance are concerned. The markets have reacted well to this measure as this will result in rates not rising and, in fact, easing down for businesses. The impact of the MPC announcements however will wither away in a couple of days time and the markets will keep responding to other triggers including Covid progress and corporate results.