Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded on firm note throughout the day, with Nifty clocking record close. The market breadth was in favour of advances, with three stocks advancing against every two declining stocks. Nifty Bank ended above 25,000 mark for first time since August 12, 2017, while Nifty Midcap Index ended in green for third session in a row. The equity benchmarks made a gap-up opening and traded in fine fettle in early deals with Nifty hitting new record high as traders took support with foreign brokerage report that India is likely to overtake Japan and Germany to become the third largest economy in the next 10 years but needs to be consistent in reforms and focus more on the social sector. Demographics and macro stability were pointed out as key strengths for the country by the brokerage. Its estimates show India will be a $7 trillion economy in 2028, as compared to less than $6 trillion and $5 trillion for Germany and Japan, respectively. Some support also came on report that the Modi government has sprung into action after the economy sent out some distress signals as GDP growth slipped to a three-year low, inflation shot up to a five-month high and current account deficit widened to a four-year peak.  The report added that government is assessing the need for some stimulus to boost growth in the economy, as the ruling party gears up for crucial state elections, including in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat, in a year and the general election in less than two years.

Investors took note that Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu will soon meet the country’s top industrialists individually to seek an investment commitment from each of them for the next few years. The minister will hold one on one meeting with the heads of top 30 domestic companies, followed by group meetings, next month. The markets shrugged off the report that trade deficit in the month of August widened to $11.64 billion from $7.7 billion during the same month a year ago. India’s exports rose 10.29 percent on a yearly basis to $23.81 billion in August on account of rise in shipments of engineering, petroleum, chemicals and pharmaceuticals products. Imports too increased 21.02 percent to $35.46 billion in August from $29.30 billion in the year-ago month due to rise in inward shipments of crude oil and gold.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mostly in green. There was relief as the weekend passed with no new provocation by North Korea, though Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions will be at centre stage when US President Donald Trump addresses world leaders at the United Nations on Tuesday. The European markets were trading in green supported by gains among financial and industrial stocks. A survey showed that British households are feeling the tightest squeeze on their finances in three years and the Bank of England’s signal that it is getting close to raising interest rates is likely to make things worse.

Back home, consumer electronics manufacturer Dixon Technologies made a strong debut on bourses and the stock closed up around 64% over its issue price of Rs 1,766. Bharat Road Network had a tepid listing and the scrip closed flat against the higher end of the price band of Rs 205. Dixon Technologies’ IPO was subscribed 117.83 times during September 6-8 and the IPO of Bharat Road Network was subscribed 1.81 times during September 6-8.

The BSE Sensex ended at 32423.12, up by 150.51 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 32361.25 and 32508.06. There were 25 stocks on gainers saide against 6 stocks on the decliners side on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.74%, while Small cap index was up by 0.83%.  (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.81%, Capital Goods up by 1.56%, Consumer Durables up by 1.39%, Auto up by 1.21% and Consumer Disc up by 1.19%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.08% was the sole the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.64%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.85%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.27%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.25% and Cipla up by 1.96%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.14%, Tata Steel down by 0.97%, SBI down by 0.92%, ITC down by 0.87% and Sun Pharma down by 0.45% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, driven down by decline in NRI deposits and commercial borrowings, India’s external debt position showed signs of improvements during preceding financial year 2016-2017. As per the latest report released by the Ministry of Finance, the external debt declined by 2.7 per cent or $13.1 billion to $471.9 billion at the end of March 2017, as compared to $485.0 billion at the end of March 2016.

‘India’s External Debt: A Status Report 2016-17’ by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, also showed that India's long-term external debt decreased by 4.4 percent year-on-year to $383.9 billion at end-March 2017, while short-term external debt increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year to $88 billion at end-March 2017 on account of increase in trade related credits, which account for 98.3 per cent of short-term debt.

The report further said that the country’s  external debt has remained within manageable limits and the external debt situation has improved in 2016-17 over 2015-16 as indicated by the increase in foreign exchange reserves cover to debt to 78.4 per cent from 74.3 per cent and fall in the external debt-GDP ratio to 20.2 per cent from 23.5 per cent. The report further showed the ratio of India’s external debt stock to gross national income (GNI) at 23.4 per cent was the fifth lowest and in terms of the cover provided by foreign exchange reserves to external debt, while India’s position was sixth highest at 69.7 per cent in 2015.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10154.40, up by 69.00 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 10131.30 and 10171.70. There were 39 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 4.55%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.71%, Indiabulls Housing up by 3.08%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.77% and IndusInd Bank up by 2.66%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.09%, ONGC down by 0.90%, Tata Power down by 0.83%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.72% and ITC down by 0.71% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.12 points or 0.36% to 7,241.59, Germany’s DAX increased 70.1 points or 0.56% to 12,588.91 and France’s CAC increased 24.35 points or 0.47% to 5,238.26.

Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Monday as geopolitical worries eased and investors looked ahead to the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan's meetings later this week for clues on the direction of monetary policy. Chinese shares ended higher, bolstered by stronger-than-expected loan data that added to views economic growth is holding up well and by the loosening of restrictions on stock index futures trading. China’s financial futures exchange said on Friday it was cutting margin requirements and transaction fees for certain stock index futures contracts, as regulators use an ongoing equity market recovery to relax restrictions imposed during a 2015 crash. The Japanese market was closed for a public holiday.