Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks oscillated between green and red in a broad range throughout the day and ended the session with marginal gains, with Nifty holding 9,900 mark. IT stocks outperform with index gaining more than one percent. Infosys, India’s No 2 software services exporter, led the gains after the company announced that its board would consider a proposal to buy back shares at a meeting later this month. The equity benchmarks made a positive start and traded in fine fettle in early deals as traders took some encouragement from the report that government has revised upward the country’s overall food grain production by 2.3 million tonnes (MT) to a record 275.68 MT in 2016-17 crop year that ended in June. Record output has been achieved in rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses on the back of good rains in the said period. Meanwhile, American think-tank Council on Foreign Relations’ Senior Fellow for India Alyssa Ayers has said that the country has emerged as a strong world power but still has a long way to go. Some support also crept in after the cabinet cleared the CGST refund scheme with a budgetary allocation of Rs 27,413 crore. This will come as a big relief to sectors like Pharma, Automobiles and FMCG units. Separately, in line with the government’s policy, the RBI said farmers can avail of short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at subsidized interest rate of 7% that could go down to 4% on prompt repayment. The RBI said in a notification to banks that in order to ensure hassle-free benefits to farmers under the Interest Subvention Scheme, the banks are advised to make Aadhaar linkage mandatory for availing of short-term crop loans in 2017-18.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed, as tensions between the US and North Korea came off the boil. Japan’s exports rose for an eighth straight month in July on robust shipments to the United States and a boost from a weak yen, a sign overseas demand rebounded from a lull in the previous quarter to underpin a steady economic recovery. European markets were trading in red, and is set to break their three-day winning streak as banks fell following a set of cautious minutes from the US Federal Reserve, and energy stocks also weighed. Inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro currency remained stable in July, but the much watched core inflation metric excluding volatile energy costs and unprocessed food rose.

Back home, GMR Infrastructure closed on firm note after the Supreme Court of India allowed Delhi International Airport (DIAL) to use airport land for commercial purposes. The company will now be able to monetize about 168 acres of land with this judgment. SREI Infrastructure Finance closed in green as its wholly-owned subsidiary SREI Equipment Finance (SEFL) is planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its equity shares, resulting in a dilution of up to a maximum of 25% of the post-issue paid-up equity share capital.

The BSE Sensex ended at 31774.85, up by 3.96 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 31714.10 and 31937.51. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.54%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.94%, TECK up by 1.88%, Telecom up by 1.53%, Utilities up by 1.00% and PSU up by 0.91%, while Auto down by 0.79%, Bankex down by 0.75%, Healthcare down by 0.56%, FMCG down by 0.36% and Consumer Disc down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 4.52%, NTPC up by 4.06%, Coal India up by 3.90%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.70% and HDFC up by 0.77%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.49%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.75%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.62%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.32% and Tata Motors down by 1.23% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal of Department of Investment and public Asset Management (DIPAM) for speedy completion of strategic disinvestment transactions of state-owned companies.
 
The DIPAM will set up an Alternative Mechanism (AM) consisting of the Finance Minister, Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister of Administrative Department. This three ministers’ group will decide on the matters relating to terms and conditions of the sale from the stage of inviting of Express of Interests (Eols) till inviting of financial bid.

Approval was also given to empower the Core Group of Secretaries (CGD) to take policy decisions with regard to procedural issues and to consider deviations as necessary from time to time for effective implementation of decisions of CCEA.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9903.85, up by 6.55 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 9883.75 and 9947.80. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 4.70%, NTPC up by 4.06%, Coal India up by 3.80%, Vedanta up by 2.32% and BPCL up by 2.12%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.79%, ACC down by 2.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.64%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.61% and Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 21.08 points or 0.28% to 7,411.95, Germany’s DAX decreased 28.59 points or 0.23% to 12,235.27 and France’s CAC decreased 10.63 points or 0.21% to 5,165.98.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Thursday after the dollar weakened slightly amid political turmoil in Washington DC and after the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed concern about inflation remaining persistently low. Chinese shares ended higher after reports that the government is considering significant changes to open up the economy more widely to foreign investors. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended lower as the yen strengthened on doubts about US President Donald Trump's ability to implement reforms. Japanese exports rose for an eighth straight month in July amid strong demand in China, official data showed, helping limit the downside. The Indonesian market was closed for Independence Day.