Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded in green for most part of the day and ended the session with splendid gains. The last hour of trade pulled the markets higher with Nifty surpassing crucial 10,500 level. Domestic bourses made a positive start and traded in fine fettle as traders took support with report stating that India’s direct tax collections for the last financial year crossed the Rs 10 lakh crore mark, registering an increase of 18 per cent over the previous fiscal. Some support also came with another report stating that India has moved one notch higher, to the 44th place in terms of competitiveness, in the annual rankings compiled by International Institute for Management Development (IMD) which placed the US in the top slot. The US became the most competitive economy globally driven by its strength in economic performance and infrastructure, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore in the second and third place, respectively.

Adding the optimism among investors, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that India is trying to get a resolution soon on tackling rising fuel prices, and the government is looking at both short-term and long-term solutions. Meanwhile, engineering exporters’ body, EEPC India said that India can make its export promotion schemes WTO- compliant and make the country's exports competitive by allowing the exchange rate to reflect the real value of the rupee , that has only recently shown some parity, helping the exporting community.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed, as growing trade concerns overshadowed dovish minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting. The European markets were trading mostly in green in early deals on Thursday, as investors monitored a bounce across financials and tech stocks. 

Back home, select oil exploration related stocks such as ONGC and Aban Offshore, ended lower as government to consider levy of tax on oil producers to control the prices of petrol and diesel. Most auto stocks including Tata Motors, TVS Motor and Ashok Leyland were under pressure, as the US President Donald Trump ordered probe into whether import of automobiles and auto parts threaten national security.

The BSE Sensex ended at 34689.69, up by 344.78 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 34367.83 and 34703.14. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.52%, IT up by 2.45%, TECK up by 2.42%, Bankex up by 1.55% and Metal up by 1.20%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.76%, Auto down by 1.49%, Utilities down by 1.22%, Industrials down by 0.61% and Realty down by 0.43% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.22%, TCS up by 3.11%, Infosys up by 2.89%, Axis Bank up by 2.85% and Sun Pharma up by 2.12%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 6.55%, ONGC down by 4.53%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 4.06%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.16% and NTPC down by 0.99% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India has been ranked 44th in the year 2018, up one notch from last year, in terms of competitiveness in the annual rankings compiled by International Institute for Management Development (IMD) which saw the United States (US) topping the list. The US improved three positions to return to the top spot, driven by its strength in economic performance, government efficiency, capital provision and digital infrastructure.

Regarding India, the report stated that some of the challenges which India has to face for the year 2018 would be skilling of manpower and employment generation, streamlining the implementation of goods and services tax and balancing high growth with sustainable development goals. It also noted that digital literacy and adequate bandwidth at rural areas and mobilisation of resources for infrastructure development needs are few more key areas where the government needs to concentrate.

Hong Kong and Singapore were ranked second and third respectively. Besides, the Netherlands and Switzerland were the other two nations in the top five slots. Others in the top 10 list include Denmark (6th), the UAE (7th), Norway (8th) and Sweden (9th) and Canada (10th). Meanwhile, China (13th) continued with its steady rise in rankings over the past five years, climbing 10 spots since 2014, fuelled by a strong economic performance of its domestic market and workforce employment.

Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center has pointed out that countries at the top of the rankings share an above average performance across all competitiveness factors, but their competitiveness mix varies. He also said that one economy, for example, may build its competitiveness strategy around a particular aspect such as its tangible and intangible infrastructure; another may approach competitiveness through their governmental efficiency.

The CNX Nifty is ended at 10533.35, up by 103.00 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 10419.80 and 10535.15. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 4.34%, TCS up by 3.31%, Infosys up by 2.96%, Axis Bank up by 2.92% and Sun Pharma up by 2.53%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 6.37%, GAIL India down by 5.56%, ONGC down by 4.42%, Grasim Industries down by 2.52% and HPCL down by 1.10% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX increased 20.67 points or 0.16% to 12,997.51, France’s CAC rose 28.23 points or 0.51% to 5,594.08 while, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 7 points or 0.09% to 7,781.44.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Thursday amid renewed trade tensions after US President Donald Trump said that the current structure used in trade talks with China was ‘too hard to get done’. Investor optimism over dovish Fed minutes was tempered by news reports that the US is considering imposing new duties on automobile imports. Japanese shares fell, led down by automakers on worries about new tariffs after the US launched a national security probe into car and truck imports. Further, China stocks extended losses, after falling the most in a month in the previous session, as caution prevailed amid renewed concerns over China-US trade tensions.