Post Session: Quick Review

Markets finally saw the light of day after three consecutive sessions of losses on return of global risk appetite, which took both Sensex and Nifty above the psychologically crucial 25,500 and 7,600 levels respectively, with gains of around three fourth of a percent. Easing Geo-political concerns after news suggested that Russia was ending military drills near the Ukrainian border and signs of truce in Gaza, mainly honed investors’ risk appetite across the globe. Further, sentiment were also bolstered after latest reports from weather department suggested that monsoon season was likely to end with 10% below average rain, from the abysmal 40% predicted during the month of June. Notably, the gains of local barometer gauges came in run-up to Industrial production data, which is scheduled to be released on Tuesday i.e. August 12. Factory output in June rose 5.4% from a year earlier, faster than the 4.7% growth in May. Meanwhile, broader indices also participating into positive session of trade went home with gains in the range of 0.55%-0.75%.

On the global front, Asian bourses saw robust gains on Monday following a positive lead from Wall Street last week as geopolitical jitters eased, while the release of Chinese inflation data over the weekend also buoyed sentiment. Data released on Saturday showed that consumer price inflation in China held steady at 2.3% in July, in line with expectations. Meanwhile, European stocks rose, following higher U.S. equities after a report that Russian war planes have finished military exercises near Ukraine’s border.

Closer home, in the extremely positive session, stocks of Power, Oil & Gas and Fast Moving Consumer Goods counters were the only weak link of trade. On the flip side, stocks from Auto, Realty and Capital Goods counters were the pockets of market’s strength. While, Auto's pivotal gains was led by M&M, which rallied 3% after reporting better than expected Q1 numbers, Real estate stocks too witnessed heavy demand after Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved setting up of real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are nothing but listed entities that mainly invest in income-producing real estate assets, the earnings of which are mostly distributed to their shareholders. Besides, shares of public oil marketing companies, BPCL, HPCL and IOC rallied after reports suggested that government will pay fuel retailers Rs 11,000 crore in subsidy for the first quarter. The market breadth on the BSE remained in the favour of advances; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1,718: 1,216, while 97 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex surged 190.10 points or 0.75% to settle at 25519.24. The index touched a high and a low of 25553.44 and 25437.05 respectively. 17 stocks gained against 13 declines on the index. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices too ended in the green, the BSE Midcap was up by 0.56%, while the BSE Small cap index was higher by 0.76%. (Provisional) 

On the BSE sectoral front, Auto up by 2.65%, Realty up by 0.96%, Capital Goods up by 0.88%, IT up by 0.67% and Metal up by 0.66% were the major gainers in the space, while Power was down by 0.48%, FMCG was down by 0.41% and Oil and Gas was down by 0.12% remained the few losers on the sectoral space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 6.16%, HDFC up by 3.77%, Tata Motors up by 3.51%, Infosys up by 2.95% and SSLT was up by 2.53%. On the flip side, Gail India down by 4.81%, Dr Reddys down by 2.08%, NTPC down by 1.34%, HUL down by 0.71% and ITC down by 0.67% were the major losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, concerned over the high food inflation in the country, the government has stated that it is taking various fiscal and administrative measures to bring down inflation. Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has asserted that the government is committed to ensuring price stability in the country and is closely monitoring the situation and taking measures on an ongoing basis to bring down inflation.

By adding further, Nirmala Sitharaman said that some of the important measures taken during the last three months to bring down inflation include reducing import duties to zero for wheat, onion and pulses and imposing stock limits on various commodities. The government has also suspended futures trading in rice, urad and tur as matter of abundant precaution, she added. Among other measures, the government recently recommended delisting of fruits and vegetables from the purview of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Acts of the states and fixing a minimum export price on onion and potato to ensure domestic supplies. The WPI inflation in food articles eased to 8.14% y-o-y in the month under review as comparison to 9.50% in the previous month.

Though, inflation has been witnessing downward trend over the past two or three months, it is still elevated above 7 percent impacting the real income and consumption power of the people. The retail inflation stood at 7.31% y-o-y in June as compared to 8.28% in the previous month.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility rose 4.24% at 13.99 from its previous close of 14.44 on Friday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty ended higher by 56.40 points or 0.75% to settle at 7,624.95. The index touched high and low of 7,635.55 and 7,598.60 respectively. 29 stocks ended in the green against 21 stocks ending in red. (Provisional)

The major gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 6.15%, Bank of Baroda up by 4.23%, HDFC up by 3.72%, Tata Motors up by 3.30% and SSLT was up by 2.82%. On the flip side, the key losers were Gail India down by 4.60%, Dr Reddys down by 2.26%, Jindal Steel down by 1.63%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.32% and NTPC down by 1.20%. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in the green; Germany's DAX was down by 0.73%, France's CAC 40 was down by 1.44% and UK's FTSE 100 was down by 0.89%.

Asian equity indices ended in green on Monday, with the benchmark indices heading for its biggest rally in six months. China’s slumping property market is fueling speculation that the industry is set for a shakeout as small developers face difficulty raising funds to pay off debt. China’s real-estate industry poses the biggest near-term risk to growth in the world’s second-largest economy after new home prices dropped in the most cities in two years in June. China’s consumer inflation came in as forecast at 2.3% rise, reinforcing bets that benign price pressures will give authorities room to relax monetary policy if needed. The producer price index fell 0.9% for the 29th consecutive month. On a monthly basis, consumer inflation ran at 0.1% in July. Japanese Household Confidence rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 41.5, from 41.1 in the preceding month. Japan’s M2 Money Stock remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.0% while Japanese tertiary industry activity index fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.1%, from 0.9% in the preceding month.

Malaysian Industrial Production rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.0%, from 6.0% in the preceding month. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong narrowed the government’s forecast for economic growth this year and stated that the country must review its strategies as its needs evolve. The Southeast Asian nation’s growth domestic product will probably expand 2.5% to 3.5% this year. The range is narrower than a previous prediction of 2% to 4%. The minister added that the economy grew 3.5% in the first half.