In the fortnight from 1^st to 13^th April, 2018 major global markets witnessed gains. Starting out with concerns over global trade war, market sentiments lifted after China promised lower import tariffs on certain products.

International Market

Signs of political tensions between U.S. and Russia over a recent chemical attack in Syria restricted the gains. Nonetheless, optimism over the upcoming quarterly earnings of industry majors helped investors shrug off concerns.

European markets managed to end on a positive note on expectations of improvement in corporate earnings. Buying interest found additional support from official data showing recovery in industrial production in February.

In Asia, investor sentiment buoyed after China announced initiatives to liberalise the trade and economy. Buying interest was supported by Japanese consumer confidence data and an unexpected increase in core machine orders.

Indian Market

Indian markets closed in the green following optimism over the health of the domestic economy, backed by strong macro-economic numbers.

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its first bi-monthly policy review for 2018-19 kept key policy repo rate unchanged at 6.0%. But, gains remained capped due to geopolitical tension.

The Banking sector closed on a cheerful note during the period driven by broad based growth in the major banking indices. This came in as a relief after being hit hard by fraud menace over the last two months.

After falling in the previous fortnight and sailing through high volatility, oil and gas sector index closed slightly positive this fortnight.

After rising initially post MPC policy review, the rupee fell after demand for the greenback picked up following rise in global crude oil prices.

Brent crude prices surged amid growing concerns over U.S. military activity in Syria, which may hamper oil supplies from the region.

Source: MFI Explorer

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