Post Session: Quick Review

Monday turned out to be a disappointing session of trade for Indian equity benchmarks where frontline gauges failed to hold on to their initial gains and ended the session with marginal losses. Sentiments remained optimistic in initial trade with local bourses reclaiming their crucial 28,000 (Sensex) and 8,550 (Nifty) levels on report that exports snapped18-month downward spiral and rose by 1.27% in June to $22.28 billion. Rising exports and decline in imports also brought down the trade deficit in June to $8.11 billion as against $10.82 billion in the year-ago month. Better-than-expected first quarter earnings from index heavyweights, Reliance Industries too aided sentiments. The company reported a surge of 18.51% in its net profit at Rs 7548 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as compared to Rs 6369 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

But, key gauges reversed momentum and entered into red terrain in last leg of trade as investors opted to book profit at higher levels. Investors also kept a close watch on the monsoon session of Parliament which started today amid hopes the government will be able to pass the Goods and Services Tax Bill that is now stuck in the Upper House. Some cautiousness crept in with the industry body Assocham’s statement that government and the main opposition party should get the long-stalled Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST passed in the Rajya Sabha in first few days of the monsoon session of Parliament.

Weakness in European counters too dampened the sentiments. European markets, after a positive start, entered into negative terrain in early deals with DAX and CAC trading with a cut of around one third of a percent. However, Asian markets ended mostly in green following a failed coup attempt in Turkey as energy and financial companies advanced.

Back home, losses remained capped with the industry chamber CII’s report indicating that Indian industry remained upbeat about the business environment in the first quarter ended June owing to salary hikes recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission, progress of monsoons and the government's proactive reforms agenda. The CII Business Confidence Index (BCI) has improved to 57.2 in April-June 2016, from 54.1 in the previous quarter.

On the sectoral front, shares of telecommunications services providers remained under pressure after Bharti Airtel announced an effective reduction in pre-paid data tariffs by increasing data benefits on some of its pre-paid data recharge packs. Rally in stocks of interest rate sensitive sectors i.e banking and realty, on hope of a cut in interest rate by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), above-normal monsoon and benefits accruing from the 7th Pay Commission recommendation (7CPC), too fizzled out on late hour profit booking.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty slipped by over thirty points but managed to hold the psychological 8,500 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex declined by around ninety points to finish below its psychological 27,800 mark. Broader markets too failed to get any traction and ended the session with a cut of around half a percent.

The market breadth remained in favor of decliners, as there were 1,103 shares on the gaining side against 1,632 shares on the losing side while 178 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 27746.66, down by 89.84 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 27697.69 and 28013.50. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.62%, while Small cap index declined 0.48%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.35% and IT up by 0.30%, while Telecom down by 3.20%, Oil & Gas down by 1.61%, PSU down by 1.49%, Realty down by 1.32% and Metal down by 1.04% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.01%, Infosys up by 0.79%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.69%, Axis Bank up by 0.64% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.50%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 5.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.86%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.63%, Tata Steel down by 1.86% and Cipla down by 1.86% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, to popularize and promote concentrated solar thermal (CST) in the non-conventional energy segment, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in association with New and Renewable Energy Ministry (MNRE)  is preparing a road map for 100 MW (megawatt) CST capacity for the next five years in India, the road map is expected to be completed in next two months.

CST technologies are sufficiently suited for heating, drying and cooling applications for industrial processes and useful for cooking and domestic purposes. UNIDO has shortlisted 14 sectors for their application. The project aims to facilitate the installation 45,000 sq metre of installed concentrated solar (CS) collector area through 15-25 demonstration and 60 replication. UNIDO will provide $1.8 million for demonstration projects and to support manufacturing of CST component in India.

Joint Secretary to the ministry of new and renewable energy Tarun Kapoor has said that, presently about 250 CST systems, which are off-grid, are operating in India and added that government provides 30 per cent subsidy for installation of CST. Under the project, additional 5 per cent interest rate subvention is provided, this additional 5 percent is equal to 20 percent subsidy making the net subsidy almost 50 per cent.

UNIDO’s National Project Manager Anil Misra has said that about Rs 18,000-20,000 investment is needed for a square meter of CST area with single and double axis collector and Rs 12,000 are the estimated cost for non-imaging collector. One square meter of CST produces 3.5-kilo calories and solar themal’s efficiency is around 40-50 per cent while the same for solar PV is about 15 per cent. Land requirement for CST project is one third of solar PV project.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8508.70, down by 32.70 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8494.35 and 8587.10. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.22%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.23%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.08%, Axis Bank up by 1.05% and Infosys up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 6.53%, ONGC down by 5.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.29%, Bank of Baroda down by 3.17% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.31% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 26.82 points or 0.27% to 10,040.08 and France’s CAC was down by 16.51 points or 0.38% to 4,356.00, while UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 12.52 points or 0.19% to 6,681.76.

Asian markets ended higher on Monday, although trading volumes remained thin in the wake of lackluster cues from Wall Street, a failed coup attempt in Turkey and a public holiday in Japan for Marine Day. Turkey has arrested 6,000 people after a failed coup attempt, with President Erdogan vowing to purge state bodies of the ‘virus’ that caused the revolt. The Turkish government moved swiftly to ‘clean up the army’ and re-establish control, with the country's central bank promising unlimited liquidity to banks and its deputy prime minister posting on Twitter that there's ‘no need to worry’. Chinese shares bucked the regional uptrend to end slightly lower after data showed average housing prices in China rose at a slower pace in June from the previous month.