Post Session: Quick Review

Paring most of their gains, Indian equity benchmarks closed Monday’s session marginally higher, on the back of heavy profit booking in the recent gainers. The key indices made a cautious start but soon gained the traction to trade bullish for the most part of the session, aided by the Confederation of Indian Industry’s latest report stating that industry is expecting the gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by close to 8% over the next two years, with a solid foundation of strong reforms process and fiscal prudence. Traders took encouragement with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh’s statement that the Union government has been working consistently from the past 4 years, in order to double the income of farmers and animal rearers. Domestic sentiments also got boost with Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the country’s GDP growth may surpass 8% in the next two years and in 7-8 years the economy’s size will double to $5 trillion. The Minister also said that in current financial year the growth will be better than the preceding fiscal. Investors also took some support with a report highlighting that Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) cleared over Rs 7000 crore worth Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds of exporters during the initial phase of the special refund drive undertaken by the authorities. Meanwhile, more than 1,300 fresh foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were registered with SEBI in 2017-18 on continued interest in the Indian capital markets.

However, in the last leg of the trade, the bourses failed to hold rally and trimmed their gains to end flat, as anxiety spread on the street with Former finance minister P Chidambaram’s statement that state of the economy was bad in the country due to the wrong policies of the NDA government and tyres of three (Exports, Private Investment, Private Consumption) of the four wheels on which the economy rides were punctured. Investors also got cautious with a private report that India's retail inflation likely jumped further in May to a four-month high, primarily driven by a surge in energy prices, suggesting more policy tightening from the central bank is coming. Besides, US president Donald Trump once again accused India of charging 100% tariff on some imports.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed, as investors traded cautiously as trade-related tensions remained in focus after US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew his support for a joint communique at the conclusion of the weekend G7 summit. However, European markets were trading in green, ahead of a historic meeting between the US President and the North Korean leader set to take place in Singapore on Tuesday. 

Back home, on the sectoral front, PSU stocks ended higher, supported by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that a committee will come out with its recommendations on setting up an asset reconstruction or an asset management company for faster resolution of bad loans, while steel stocks erased gains to end in red, despite Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma said that the rollout of new steel policy saved forex of Rs 5,000 crore since last year while around 24 million tonnes of crude steel capacity was added during past four years.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35483.47, up by 39.80 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 35444.49 and 35704.84. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.56%, Consumer Durables up by 1.03%, Healthcare up by 0.51%, TECK up by 0.41% and FMCG was up by 0.37%, while Realty down by 0.71%, Metal down by 0.35%, Oil & Gas down by 0.22%, Energy down by 0.18% and Utilities was down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.52%, Sun Pharma up by 1.12%, Indusind Bank up by 1.06%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.00% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.93%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.09%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.26%, Coal India down by 0.72%, Yes Bank down by 0.70% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.64% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, few days after the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showing drop in India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows during 2017, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that FDI in the country witnessed a growth during 2017-18 to reach at $61.96 billion.

As per DIPP, FDI increased by about 3 per cent during 2017-18 compared to the $60 billion inflows reported in the previous fiscal. DIPP Secretary also highlighted the pace of expansion of foreign inflows during the four years of the Modi government, saying that FDIs jumped to $222.75 billion from $152 billion in the previous four-year period.

However, according to the UNCTAD report, India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows dropped to $40 billion in 2017 as compared to $44 billion in 2016. It also indicated that in South Asia, FDI inflows contracted by 4 percent to $52 billion, due to a fall in inflows to India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10786.95, up by 19.30 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 10777.05 and 10850.55. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.98%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.90%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.02%, Grasim Industries up by 1.99% and Zee Entertainment up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.97%, UPL down by 1.91%, HCL Tech. down by 1.84%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.11% and Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.09% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets are trading in green; France’s CAC gained 8.1 points or 0.15% to 5,458.32, UK’s FTSE 100 surged 56.78 points or 0.74% to 7,737.85 and Germany’s DAX was up by 68.31 points or 0.54% to 12,834.86.

Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Monday, with investors shrugging off concerns about trade war and looking ahead to the outcome of a historic meeting between the US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. However, gains are just modest in most of the markets in the region amid largely thin volumes ahead of crucial monetary policy meetings of the Bank of Japan, European Central Bank, and the US Federal Reserve. Japanese shares ended modestly higher, although volume of business was rather thin. Meanwhile, Chinese shares closed lower, on investor concerns over the liquidity conditions in the market. The markets in Indonesia remain closed for Eid-Ul-Fitr holiday.