The Indian markets closed decently higher in the last session and the major benchmarks reached very close to the crucial levels. Today, the start of the new week is likely to be a bit soft-to-cautious, tailing the tepidness in the regional markets on increased geo-political worries. However, trade may stabilize going forward and some sector specific movement can be seen with the change of ministerial heads in the latest Cabinet reshuffle, Nirmala Sitharaman former minister of state for Commerce has been given defence portfolio, while Piyush Goyal replaced Suresh Prabhu in Railway Ministry, the cabinet also saw the induction of nine new faces. Traders will also be getting some support with chairman of the New Development Bank of BRICS, K.V. Kamath’s statement that demonetisation has proved to be good exercise for India, as it has achieved the goals of eliminating illicit and counterfeit cash from the economy. Meanwhile, the government, on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council, has waived the penalty of Rs 200 per day for taxpayers who failed to file the first GST returns within the deadline. There will be some buzz in steel sector stocks, as Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has said to produce more special steel to cut imports. He said that PSUs should develop appetite for special steel as value addition remains the mantra for success. There will be some buzz from the primary markets too, as the Apex Frozen Foods, a, is scheduled to mark its debut on the bourses today. The issue which came in price band of Rs 171–175 per share was subscribed 6.10 times. The issue price is fixed at Rs 175 per share.
The US markets made a modestly higher closing in the last session despite disappointing monthly jobs data. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 156,000 jobs in August compared to expectations for an increase of about 180,000 jobs. The Asian markets have made mostly a soft start and some indices are down by over half a percent as the geopolitical worries flared up, after North Korea tested a nuclear bomb on Sunday and US President Trump threatened to increase economic sanctions and halt trade with any nation doing business with Kim Jong Un’s regime.
Back home, extending their northward journey for third straight day, Indian equity benchmarks ended the new F&O series on optimistic note. Soon after a cautious start, markets gained traction and showed ample of strength in early deals, as traders chose to ignore weak Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers which came at a dismal 5.70 percent against 7.90 percent in the same quarter last year and a 13 quarter lowest level. According to data released by the government, quarterly GVA at basic prices for Q1FY18 from manufacturing sector grew by 1.2 percent as compared to the growth of 10.7 percent in Q1FY17. Traders focused on Finance Minster Arun Jaitley’s statement the lower GDP numbers to pre-GST destocking of goods and expressed hope that the economy will grow at 7 percent, saying manufacturing has bottomed out. Also, Chief Statistician of India T C A Anant said that the slowdown in GDP growth for the first quarter of 2017-18 to 5.7 percent was due to de-stocking by firms as caution ahead of the GST roll-out on July 1. Markets continued its strong run till end with Sensex ending near its crucial 31,900 mark, while Nifty ending above their crucial 9,950 mark, as traders shrugged off eight core sectors which slowed down to 2.4 percent in July. The contraction was mainly seen in output of crude oil, refinery products, fertiliser and cement. Rebound in India’s manufacturing PMI in the month of August to 51.2 as compared to 47.9 in July, aided by rise in new orders and output across the country, also contributed to the up-move. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 161.74 points or 0.51% to 31,892.23, while the CNX Nifty was up by 56.50 points or 0.57% to 9,974.40.
