Post Session: Quick Review

Today’s session turned out to be a choppy day of trade for Indian equity markets with frontline gauges ending the session with marginal losses as investors remained wary on mixed economic data announced after the market hours on Friday. Indian equity benchmarks had started on a flat note and managed to trade in a narrow band in green in the late morning session. The sentiments were on optimistic note as Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will replace a raft of different central and state levies, will strengthen growth efforts and make economy more predictable. He vowed to keep inflation under control stating that he has tried to stay away from populism which the past regimes practiced to get recognition while ‘emptying the exchequer’. Some support also came as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) improved to 2.1% in June as compared to 1.2% in May. Indian rupee was trading marginally higher against the US dollar, tracking the gains in its Asian peers. The sentiments turned pessimistic after wholesale inflation soared to a 23-month high of 3.55% in July as vegetables, pulses and sugar turned costlier. The wholesale price-based inflation, reflecting the annual rate of price rise, in June stood at 1.62%. The wholesale inflation last witnessed at a higher level than the July 2016 was in August 2014 at 3.74%. Additional selling crept in as after rising for the first time in 18 months in June, exports shrank again in July, contracting 6.84 percent due to decline in shipments of engineering goods and petroleum products.

On the global front, Asian shares closed mostly lower, with Japanese shares touching their lowest level in more than a week on selling pressure in late trades. Japan’s Ministry of Finance is negotiating with the country’s major banks to lend to the government at a zero interest rate in auctions beginning in October or November. European stocks declined as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of economic sentiment data from Germany and the entire euro zone, due later in the day.

Back home, the street continued their weak trade on account of selling in front line blue chip counters, taking cues from global counterparts. Buying activity was witnessed in power stocks on report that government’s ambitious Sagarmala project highlighted that coastal movement of coal could cut power costs by 50 paisa per unit for power plants besides saving Rs 17,000 crore annually. Sagarmala is an ambitious port-led infrastructure development programme of the government to harness India’s 7,500-km coastline and its perspective plan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April.

The BSE Sensex ended at 28058.76, down by 93.64 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 27942.65 and 28199.10. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.54%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.43%, Oil & Gas up by 0.91%, Capital Goods up by 0.76%, PSU up by 0.69% and Bankex up by 0.21%, while TECK down by 1.24%, IT down by 1.23%, Auto down by 0.74%, Realty down by 0.69% and Consumer Durables down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 7.10%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 6.68%, Tata Steel up by 1.40%, SBI up by 1.15% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.13%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.36%, Tata Motors down by 1.77%, TCS down by 1.37%, HDFC down by 1.35% and Reliance Industries down by 1.34% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s merchandise exports resumed the declining trend in July after rising in June for the first time in 18 months, July exports were down due to decline in shipments of engineering goods and petroleum products. However, the imports too declined by a rather sharper pace. The decline in imports narrowed the trade deficit in July to $7.76 billion as against $ 13.09 billion in the year-ago period. The fall in exports in July was mainly due to global slowdown, particularly in the Chinese economy, leading to a decline in commodity prices.

As per the data released by Commerce and Industry Ministry During July,2016 exports were valued at $ 21.69 billion, 6.84 per cent lower in Dollar terms than the level of $ 23.28 billion, while in rupee terms the exports stood at Rs 145770.39 crore, 1.61 per cent lower compared to Rs 148149.92 crore during July,2015. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-July 2016-17 was $87.00 billion as against $ 90.27 billion in dollar terms, down by 3.62 per cent, while in rupee terms it stood at Rs 582731.37 crore, registering a positive growth of 1.63 per cent over the same period last year.

Imports during July 2016 were valued at $ 29.45 billion, down 19.03 per cent in Dollar terms from US$ 36.37 billion and 14.48 per cent lower in Rupee terms over the level of imports valued at Rs.197932.93 crore from Rs.231453.65 crore in July,2015. Cumulative value of imports during April-July in dollar terms were $114 billion, as compared to $136.3 billion in the same period the previous year. In rupee terms the Cumulative value of imports for the period April-July was Rs763687.22 crore as against Rs.865388.34 crore. The cumulative deficit in merchandise trade for April-July of FY17 was $27 billion, from $46 billion in the corresponding period of FY16.
Oil imports during July, 2016 were valued at $ 6.82 billion which was 28.10 percent lower than oil imports valued at $ 9.49 billion in the corresponding period last year. Oil imports during April-July, 2016-17 were valued at $ 25.67 billion which was 25.01 per cent lower than the oil imports of $ 34.23 billion in the corresponding period last year.Non-oil imports during July, 2016 were estimated at $ 22.63 billion which was 15.83 per cent lower than non-oil imports of $ 26.89 million in July, 2015. Non-oil imports during April-July 2016-17 were valued at $ 88.33 million which was 13.42 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at $ 102.03 billion in April-July, 2015-16.

Gold imports dropped over 64 percent to $ 1.08 billion from $ 2.97 billion in July 2015. Import of the precious metal has been declining sharply due to measures like higher customs duty and gold schemes. Gold used to be the second most imported item in the country after petroleum. The net export of services during April-June was $ 16.2 billion, marginally lower than $ 16.49 billion recorded in the corresponding period last year. Taking merchandise and services together, overall trade deficit for April-July is estimated at $ 10.8 billion, which is 63.38 per cent lower from $ 29.5 billion year-on-year.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8638.70, down by 33.45 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 8600.45 and 8682.35. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 7.22%, Adani Ports & Special Economic zone up by 6.12%, Hindalco up by 5.50%, BPCL up by 2.68% and Ambuja Cement up by 1.70%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.40%, HCL Tech down by 2.47%, Sun Pharma down by 2.32%, Bosch down by 2.31% and Tata Motors down by 1.95% were the top losers. (Provisional)
The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 4.53 points or 0.07% to 6,936.66, Germany’s DAX decreased 21.13 points or 0.2% to 10,718.08 and France’s CAC decreased 1.47 points or 0.03% to 4,496.39.

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday, despite Wall Street's three major stock indexes closing at record highs overnight, on the back of a jump in oil prices to nearly five-week highs and renewed expectations for continued monetary policy easing around the globe. Japanese shares hit their lowest level in more than a week on selling pressure in late trades, as the yen strengthened toward 100 per US dollar ahead of a slew of US economic data due later in the day. Chinese stocks too pulled back from seven-month highs as a sharp correction in bank shares offset sustained strength in the property sector. Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares were roughly flat, as they cooled off after reaching their highest point this year.