Only a close below 6,625 may put a break to the upward momentum

Market today had a positive weakening however was continuously sliding down until beginning of the noon session. However, at around 12.15pm the market started gaining momentum and edged higher and closed near the day’s high.

Sensex opened at 22,273 while the Nifty opened at 6,673. After hitting a low of 22,185 and 6,644 the benchmark moved higher and hit a high of 22,364 and 6,703. Sensex closed at 22,340 (up 126 points or 0.57%) while the Nifty closed at 6,696 (up 54 points or 0.82%). The NSE recorded a volume of 78.05 crore shares.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said that the implementation of Basel III capital regulations may necessitate some lead time for banks to raise capital within the internationally agreed timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations. Accordingly, the transitional period for full implementation of Basel III capital regulations in India is extended up to 31 March 2019, instead of as on 31 March 2018. Union Bank, Oriental Bank, Bank of India and PNB were among the top 10 gainers in the ‘A’ group of BSE.

On the other hand RBI relaxed some of the forex hedging rules for importers and exporters, to allow greater operational flexibility, the central bank notified on Thursday. Importers and exporters can cancel up to 75% of their hedged forex exposures, as against 25% earlier, the RBI said. In addition, the profit or loss from these cancellations will be borne by the importer/exporter instead of passing it on to the customers as was mandated earlier.

Tata Power has challenged CLP India's claim that its Jhajjar plant has started commercial operation, a declaration that allows generation companies to start billing discoms for fixed charges even if the committed electricity is not supplied. In a petition before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), Tata Power has described CLP's declaration as "illegal". It has also claimed suffering financial losses due to CLP's action. Tata Power rose 4.36% to close at Rs86.25 on the BSE is the top gainer in the Sensex 30 stocks.

JSW Steel, fell 1.89% to close at Rs980.55 on the BSE, was among the top five losers in the ‘A’ group on the BSE. JSW Steel was in news for saying that if foresees it  imports of metallurgical coal to stay flat at 7-8 million tonnes in 2014/15, indicating its mills will continue to run below capacity due to soft demand and a shortage of iron ore.

US indices closed flat with negative bias. Government data showed that the economy's growth in the fourth quarter was bumped up to 2.6%, mainly because of higher health-care spending, while weekly unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in four months, offering further evidence that US layoffs have slowed sharply and perhaps a hint that hiring is about to pick up.

Slumping for an eighth month, a gauge of pending home sales fell 0.8% in February to the lowest level in more than two years, signaling that upcoming activity may slow, the National Association of Realtors reported.

Except for Shanghai Composite (0.24%) and Taiwan Weighted (0.06%) all the other Asian indices closed in the green. Hang Seng (1.06%) was the top gainer.

Japanese retail sales rose 3.6% in February from a year earlier for the seventh straight month while the Japanese core consumer price index rose 1.3% from a year earlier in February.

European indices were trading in the green. US Futures too were trading higher.

Euro-area economic confidence increased more than analysts forecast in March, easing pressure on the European Central Bank to take action next week to counter low inflation and spur growth.