Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded in a narrow range throughout the day and ended the session in red. The market breath was mildly in favour of advances with advance decline in ratio of 1:1. The benchmarks traded slightly in red in early deals as traders remained cautious with a report from domestic rating agency Care Ratings, which said that employment generation has not kept pace with GDP expansion and termed it as a major concern. Such a scenario calls for proactive measures from government and the recent infrastructure building efforts will help, it noted and said that employment growth has not kept pace with economic growth. Mixed reactions were displayed in cement stocks on report that cement prices in northern states of India are expected to rise on the back of rising costs brought about by a ban on the use of pet-coke in the Delhi NCR region from November 1. The downside was capped after SBI Research in its latest report has accessed that Indian economy is likely to improve to 6 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2017-18, as against 5.7 percent growth in the first quarter of FY18. It also said that Q2 growth might be in the lower end of 6-6.5 percent band with an upward bias.

Today’s trade was marked with lot of activity in individual stocks on account of quarterly results and investors eyed for more quarterly results for further cues. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories closed in red on reporting profit for July-September quarter at Rs 305.4 crore, lower by 1.1 percent compared with Rs 308.9 crore in year-ago period.  IDBI Bank closed in red on reporting net loss of Rs 197.84 crore for the September quarter, thanks to a sharp surge in provisioning on deteriorating asset quality. The lender had reported a net loss of Rs 853.01 crore in June quarter and net profit of Rs 55.52 crore in the September quarter of last year. FMCG major Dabur India closed in green as the performance for the September quarter met expectations after it posted net profit of Rs 362.7 crore against expectation of Rs 369 crore. SBI Life Insurance closed in green on reporting 6% increase in net profit to Rs 225.47 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 of the current fiscal. This is the maiden quarterly result by the company after it got listed early this month.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed. Growth in China’s manufacturing sector cooled more than expected in October in the face of tighter pollution rules that are forcing many steel mills, smelters and factories to curtail production over the winter. The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady and roughly maintained its ambitious price forecasts, pointing to signs of growing strength in the economy that policymakers hope will accelerate inflation toward its elusive 2 percent target. The European markets were trading in green amid muted trading as Germany’s stock market was closed for a holiday. Euro zone inflation slowed in October, coming in below expectations and edging slightly further away from the European Central Bank’s target.

Back home, mixed reactions were displayed in real estate stocks on report that real estate investment in India’s six major cities doubled to $2.87 billion in the year ended June 2017 as Mumbai attracted maximum capital and was ranked 81st globally. These six cities were able to attract capital because of strong economic drivers, acceleration in reforms, high yields and rapidly modernizing business base.

The BSE Sensex ended at 33234.28, down by 31.88 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 33164.28 and 33294.30. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.16%, Telecom up by 1.90%, Consumer Durables up by 0.54%, FMCG up by 0.40% and Energy up by 0.37%, while Metal down by 1.70%, Utilities down by 0.77%, IT down by 0.63%, Basic Materials down by 0.58% and PSU down by 0.48% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 8.40%, ONGC up by 2.41%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.38%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.60% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 0.58%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.40%, Tata Steel down by 2.27%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.11%, SBI down by 1.73% and Tata Motors down by 1.56% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, dismissing worries over fiscal deficit target, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa has said that India’s fiscal deficit is on the path of recovery, with showing an ease of about 90% of the budget estimate for the full year at the end of September from the level of 96.1% at the end of August.

Highlighting the difference in revenue and expenditure trends, Lavasa also said that there is no shortfall in revenue when it’s compared to last year. He added that the flow of revenue stream has a steady course and revenue earning departments cannot change it easily. On the expenditure front, he pointed that the acceleration in pace of expenditure is due to an early approval of the budget. He said the revenue stream will start catching up when the country will move towards achieving the balance.

Finance Secretary also expressed worries over the direct taxes and indirect taxes performance as he feels that they need to perform and added that that so far things are on course except for a little uncertainty on the goods and services tax. On expectations that revenue from spectrum auctions is likely to fall short of target, he said every year there are some anticipated income schemes that don’t materialise and something else will probably make up for that.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10339.20, down by 24.45 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 10323.95 and 10367.70. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 8.48%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.80%, ONGC up by 2.41%, HCL Tech up by 2.33% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.14%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, UPL down by 2.97%, Vedanta down by 2.83%, Infosys down by 2.38%, GAIL India down by 2.33% and Hindalco down by 2.25% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.92 points or 0.33% to 7,512.73 and France’s CAC increased 5.54 points or 0.1% to 5,499.17.

Asian equity markets made a mixed closing on Tuesday as China's official manufacturing PMI for October missed economists' expectations and the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy steady, as widely expected. Japanese shares ended on a flat note as the dollar dipped versus the yen and preliminary figures showed Japan's industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent month-over-month in September, reversing a 2.0 percent rise in August. A separate report revealed that the country's jobless rate held steady for the third straight month in September, in line with expectations. Meanwhile, Chinese shares closed marginally higher, underpinned by strong gains in transport firms even as China posted a disappointing October manufacturing activity index. The manufacturing PMI fell to 51.6 from 52.4 in September.