Post Session: Quick Review

Indian stock indices showed a disappointing performance in today’s trading session after a strong show in Friday’s trade. Sentiments remained down-beat with the report India’s economic recovery is losing some steam and there is a likelihood of slowdown in the growth momentum. According to report, improving urban consumption demand and a robust transportation sector are supporting growth, however, weak external conditions and sluggish investment demand are weighing on the pace of the recovery. Besides, caution prevailed ahead of the key economic data including GDP, IIP and consumer inflation due to be unveiled later during the week. Investors failed to draw any solace with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India continues to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but there is still potential to grow at a much faster pace. Finance Minister has further said that the Centre and states need to work together to put the country on a high growth path even as states pitched for higher allocation to meet additional outgo towards pay revision of their employees.

On the global front, European equities fell sharply on Monday, extending the previous week's steep losses, with cyclical sectors losing ground on persistent concerns about the pace of global economic growth. However, Japanese stocks rallied as the dollar strengthened in holiday-thinned trade today, with most markets across Asia closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. Meanwhile, US markets declined broadly Friday, led by a rout in technology shares, capping a week that reflected investors' caution amid a murky picture of the US economy. Employment in the US rose by less than expected in the month of January, according to a report released by the Labour Department on Friday, non-farm payroll employment climbed by 151,000 jobs in January compared to estimates for an increase of about 188,000 jobs. 

Back home, the benchmark got off to a flat start as the indices showed signs of consolidation in early trade. Thereafter, the key indices failed to show any kind of fervor and continued to see-saw around the neutral line for most part of the day due to lack of encouraging leads. The key gauges suffered a setback in late afternoon trades as sudden bouts of profit booking emerged in the local markets as European counterparts drifted downward after a positive start. Eventually the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, took a cut of around one and half percent to settle below the crucial 7,400 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, Sensex slipped by over three hundred points and closed below the psychological 24,300 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too failed to show any kind of fervor and closed with losses. On the BSE sectoral space, the high beta - IT and Oil & Gas pockets remained among top laggards in the space as they got lacerated by around one and half percent, while sectors like rate sensitive FMCG and Auto too got pounded heavily in the session. On the flipside, the sectors like Realty and Consumer Durables managed to go home with moderate gains of around quarter a percent.  The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 1183 shares on the gaining side against 1480 shares on the losing side while 138 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex ended at 24287.42, down by 329.55 points or 1.34% after trading in a range of 24196.84 and 24698.95. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red, with the BSE Mid cap index ending down by 0.23%, while Small cap index ending lower by 0.02%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.37% and Consumer Durables up by 0.19% while, IT down by 1.95%, TECK down by 1.60%, Oil & Gas down by 1.48%, FMCG down by 1.25%, Auto down by 1.03% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.25%, SBI up by 1.69%, Axis Bank up by 1.58%, Lupin up by 0.89% and Tata Steel up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.23%, ONGC down by 3.39%, ITC down by 2.90%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.78% and TCS down by 2.75% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has expressed India’s interest in establishing refinery and bunkering operations in Sri Lanka and exuded confidence that both Sri Lanka and India would work in a spirit of partnership in the hydrocarbon sector. Besides, he hoped that India will once again be in a position to export petroleum products to Bangladesh with the commissioning of Paradip refinery.

The minister stated this during bilateral meetings with Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Energy Adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Anoma Gamage, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Resources Development of Sri Lanka. Pradhan during his meeting with the Energy Adviser of Bangladesh conveyed India's commitment to work with the neighbouring country to further advance bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.

Meanwhile, on investment proposals of Indian oil companies (IOC) in Bangladesh, Pradhan said their early implementation would create a win-win situation for both countries and sought cooperation from the Bangladesh government. In this regard, he expressed India’s keenness in setting up marketing infrastructure in Bangladesh. Pradhan also sought favourable consideration for transit of LPG to India’s Northeastern region through Bangladesh and noted that Indian PSUs were interested in participating in Bangladesh’s petroleum sector, including exploration, refinery expansion and related PMC works.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7387.25, down by 101.85 points or 1.36% after trading in a range of 7363.20 and 7512.55. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 2.91%, Bosch up by 1.99%, SBI up by 1.90%, Axis Bank up by 1.71% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.48%, Indusind Bank down by 3.49%, Vedanta down by 3.32%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.94% and ITC down by 2.69% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX was down by 196.3 points or 2.11% to 9,089.93, France’s CAC down by 100.14 points or 2.38% to 4,100.53 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 92.16 points or 1.58% to 5,755.90. (Provisional)

Japanese stock exchange ended in green on Monday, snapping a four-day losing streak as the yen retreated against the dollar as dealers saw an increased chance of another US rate rise this year, after the January jobs report showed that hiring eased but the unemployment rate slipped to 4.9% and that wage growth increased modestly. Japanese market improved further after country posted an 18th consecutive current account surplus, boosted by a plunge in crude oil imports and a record travel surplus. Many regional markets across the region, including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Nikkei 225 gained 184.71 points or 1.1% to 17,004.30.