Post Session: Quick Review

Friday’s session turned out to be a choppy day of trade for Indian equity markets. The frontline gauges ended the session with losses of around one percent, as disappointing global cues dampened sentiments. The benchmarks made a weak start and traded lower in early deals as the sentiments were under pressure after Indian rupee opened down against US dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market following increased demand of American currency among importers and banks. Markets failed to draw some support with the President Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent to the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Now the Centre will have to pass the Central GST and Integrated GST Bills, while the states will need to approve their respective GST legislations. The government targets to implement the GST system from 1 April, 2017. Some selling also crept in on a suspected nuclear test by North Korea. Reports suggested that South Korea has called for an emergency National Security Council meeting. Japan’s top government spokesman also said there was a high possibility the seismic event indicated that North Korea had conducted a nuclear test. Investors will be eyeing the Index of industrial production data for the month of July to be released after the market hours. Industrial output growth halved to 2.1 per cent in June, as compared to 4.2 per cent in June 2015. A Reuter’s poll showed that lower food prices likely cooled India’s inflation rate in August, but probably not by enough to give the central bank scope to ease monetary policy again anytime soon. Official data on the consumer price index is due to be released on Monday.

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly lower; while Japan stocks were higher as gains in the Transport, Mining and Shipbuilding sectors led shares higher. China’s consumer price inflation slowed to its weakest pace in almost a year in August, pulled down by abating food costs, although an encouraging moderation in producer price deflation added to growing evidence of a steadying economy. European stocks fell and bond yields rose, driven by German trade figures that cast doubt on the strength of the euro zone’s largest economy and lingering disappointment after the European Central Bank’s policy meeting the previous day.

Back home, buying was witnessed in selected logistics companies stocks like Gati, VRL Logistics, Snowman Logistics, Patel Integrated Logistics, Sical Logistics and Transport Corporation of India since President Pranab Mukherjee gave approval to the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The BSE Sensex ended at 28796.38, down by 248.90 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 28755.08 and 29062.90. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.04%, while Small cap index was down by 0.54%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.83%, IT up by 0.38% and TECK up by 0.07% while, Metal down by 1.85%, FMCG down by 1.69%, Auto down by 1.49%, Capital Goods down by 1.15% and Consumer Durables down by 1.15% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)
The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.35%, Wipro up by 1.63%, GAIL India up by 1.31%, TCS up by 1.24% and Reliance Industries up by 0.99%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.46%, ITC down by 2.30%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.11%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.00% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.96% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the government is taking growth of technical textiles on priority basis and expecting the industry to grow at a rate of 20 per cent with the market size of the sector reach Rs 1.58-lakh crore in current fiscal. The government is providing financial support for growth of the industry and has announced 15 per cent capital subsidy for investments in technical textiles under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.

Technical textiles are an important part of the textile industry and its potential is still largely untapped in India.  Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that India has been growing at a steady pace in the sector with perceptible signs of expansion being observed in a few specialised segments. She further stated that the sector spends around 10-11 per cent on R&D at present and hopes to double the same in coming years.

The global technical textiles market is expected to reach $ 193.16 billion by 2022. Growth of key end-use industries such as agriculture, construction, packaging and automotive in BRICS nations is expected to remain a key driving factor for global technical textiles market. Technical textiles offers several advantages in their functional aspects for improving health and safety, cost effectiveness, and durability and strength of textile material and growing industrialisation, increasing access to medical care and huge infrastructure spending is expected to drive growth in the sector.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8864.60, down by 87.90 points or 0.98% after trading in a range of 8858.70 and 8939.15. There were 10 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.53%, GAIL India up by 1.59%, TCS up by 1.29%, Wipro up by 1.28% and Reliance Industries up by 0.83%. (Provisional)
On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.14%, Yes Bank down by 3.97%, Ultratech Cement down by 3.41%, Cipla down by 2.55% and Axis Bank down by 2.51% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 18.89 points or 0.28% to 6,839.81, Germany’s DAX decreased 33.45 points or 0.31% to 10,641.84 and France’s CAC decreased 10.17 points or 0.22% to 4,532.03.

The Asian markets ended in red on Friday after the European Central Bank disappointed investors who were looking for some kind of announcement on what future steps it may take to boost Europe's sluggish economy. Decline in oil prices after sharp overnight gains, mixed inflation data out of China and media reports that North Korea has conducted a fifth nuclear test also kept investors nervous. Reports showed that Consumer prices in China rose just 1.3 percent in August from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was beneath expectations for 1.7 percent and down from 1.8 percent in July. The producer price index eased an annual 0.8 percent versus expectations for a fall of 0.9 percent after sliding 1.7 percent in the previous month. China stocks ended lower after August inflation data provided few if any incentives for authorities to ease monetary policy, and that kept many investors on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended a choppy session flat, as investors continued to look for clues to when US interest rate will be increased and whether the Bank of Japan will add to its aggressive monetary stimulus at the September 20-21 rate review.