Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded on sluggish note for third straight session accompanied by volatility and ended flat. The expiry played out in last few minutes of trade whereby participants liquidated their bets in view of October derivatives expiry. The benchmarks made a gap-down opening in early deals on account of selling in front line blue chip counters along with Tata group companies which came under pressure for the third day in a row after the surprise removal of Cyrus Mistry as head of the conglomerate which continued to impact the sentiment. The ousted group chairman Cyrus Mistry sent a letter to Tata Sons directors, suggesting that the group was facing a challenging environment across companies under his tenure. Mistry said he had been reduced to a lame duck chairman. Sentiments also remained dampened after Commerce and Industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed her disappointment over India’s rank remaining almost unchanged in terms of ease of doing business released by the World Bank and said that the various efforts and reforms undertaken by the Centre and states have not been adequately covered in the ranking released by the World Bank this year. Separately, a private report highlighted that the Reserve Bank of India may be going all-out to bring down inflation to 4%, but it probably cannot do so sustainably as health and education prices will keep the consumer price index (CPI) above the targeted level. The report underlined that three government decisions over the next few weeks -- the GST rate, Seventh Pay Commission housing allowance and the fiscal trajectory -- progress on food reforms and the pace of recovery will determine if the direction is comforting. In the meantime, market participants liquidated their short position in view of October derivatives expiry. The near month October 2016 derivatives contracts expired today i.e. October 27, 2016. Separately, demonstrating a sense of confidence among global investors, latest data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that more than 1,300 new foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have registered with capital markets regulator SEBI in April-August of 2016-17, showing a sign of their willingness to be part of India’s growth story. In the last fiscal, a total of 2,900 FPIs had received approval from SEBI. The number of FPIs with SEBI approval increased to 5,626 at the end of August from 4,311 in March-end, reflecting an addition of 1,315 such investors. FPI investors consider India as a preferred and stable market, given its macro-economic stability, long-term growth prospects and ongoing economic and social reforms.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in red, with Chinese stocks declined after data released early today showed that growth in the nation’s industrial profits had slowed last month. China recorded 7.7% year-over-year growth in industrial profits in September, sharply down from the 19.5% growth the previous month. Further, Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 edged down as poor earnings forecasts from companies such as Nintendo and Canon disappointed the market, offsetting gains in domestic demand sensitive stocks. European shares slipped weighed down by weaker commodity-related stocks, while the boost to financials from forecast-beating results from Deutsche Bank and Barclays proved short-lived.

Back home, select PSU stocks showed mixed reactions following reports that the Cabinet had given its go ahead for strategic stake sale in 17 CPSEs. The government has cleared stake sale in the company through a two-stage auction process. The list included Scooters India, NMDC, BEML, SAIL etc.

The BSE Sensex ended at 27890.30, up by 53.79 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 27665.60 and 27958.13. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.90%, while Small cap index was down by 0.77%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.49% and Bankex up by 0.03%, while Auto down by 1.15%, Consumer Durables down by 0.98%, IT down by 0.93%, TECK down by 0.84% and Oil & Gas down by 0.65% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.59%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.15%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.00%, ICICI Bank up by 1.99% and ITC up by 1.32%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.49%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.26%, Wipro down by 2.18%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.59% and SBI down by 1.54% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet is likely to consider Finance Ministry's proposal of advancing the date for Budget presentation and decide on the date on which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the budget for 2017-18. The Finance Ministry had earlier proposed that the Budget presentation date be fixed for February 1 and the entire exercise be completed by March 24.

The Cabinet had on September 21 in-principle decided to end the colonial-era tradition of presenting the Union Budget on the last day of February and advance it by about a month to help complete the legislative approval for annual spending plans and tax proposals before beginning of the new financial year on April 1.

Finance Ministry wanted the Budget Session of Parliament to begin before January 25 and go in for a three-week break between February 10-15 before reconvening between March 10-15 to complete the legislative exercise and the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the reason we wanted to advance the date was that we want the entire budgetary exercise to be over and the Finance Bill to be passed and implemented from April 1 onwards rather than June because then the monsoon sets in and effectively, the expenditures start in October.

Having decided to advance the Budget presentation by a month, the government took the line that it should not be presented in the middle of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, the assembly elections in these five states is likely to be held in phases, there is a probability that this budget schedule may clash with the campaigning and polling.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8612.40, down by 2.85 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 8550.25 and 8624.85. There were 16 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 2.66%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.40%, ICICI Bank up by 1.92%, ITC up by 1.74% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.62%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.33%, Asian Paints down by 3.41%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.13%, Yes Bank down by 2.50% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.36% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 12.36 points or 0.18% to 6,945.73, Germany’s DAX decreased 21.97 points or 0.21% to 10,687.71 and France’s CAC decreased 21.37 points or 0.47% to 4,513.22.

The Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday amid skepticism over OPEC's proposed deal to curb oil production. The yen recovered some ground against majors and a report showed profits earned by China's industrial firms slowed in September, keeping investors nervous. Traders also looked ahead to a slew of US data including Friday's crucial third-quarter GDP report for fresh clues about the timing of the next interest rate rise. Chinese shares ended lower, with a weaker yuan, liquidity concerns and slowing industrial profit growth, weighing on markets. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's industrial profits grew only 7.7 percent year-on-year in September after expanding 19.5 percent in August. The increase in August was the fastest in three years. Japanese shares ended lower as Canon, a key exporter, revised down its full-year earnings forecast and the dollar weakened against the yen in late trading.