Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded jubilantly for most part of the day on Thursday and ended the session with gains of more than half a percent. Domestic indices began trading on a positive note and traded in fine fettle on the back of firm trend in the global markets coupled with optimism around corporate earnings. Sentiments remained up-beat with a report that India has become the world’s sixth largest economy overtaking France. According to World Bank data on gross domestic product (GDP) of countries for 2017, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at $2.597 trillion at the end of 2017, compared to $2.582 trillion for France. Traders also took some encouragement with the International Labour Organization (ILO), an arm of the United Nations, report that if 40% of India’s electricity comes from renewables by 2030 (from 7.5% in February 2018), the country could add about 3 million new jobs. Buying got extended to reach at fresh intraday high points during second half of the day, as optimism remained amongst the traders with Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian’s statement that a three-tier structure under new tax regime is possible as revenues stabilise. He also said that GST, India's biggest reform in indirect taxes still remains a work in progress and there is a need for further simplification of rates with fewer exemptions and simpler policies.

However, key indices gave up some of their gains in last leg of trade to come off their intraday high points, due to some selling witnessed in Realty and Auto stocks. Domestic sentiments got cautious with a private report stating that global debt rose to a record $247 trillion in the first quarter, more than $29 trillion higher than the end of 2016. Besides, investors’ maintained cautious approach ahead of key macro data - Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for May and Consumer Price Index-based inflation for June scheduled to be released later today.

On the global front, Asian markets ended in green, on expectations that the US threats to expand tariff hikes is bluff and bluster and trade agreements will ultimately be reached. European markets were trading in green in early deals on Thursday, as investors consolidated steep losses from the previous session when heightened fears of an escalation to the U.S.-Sino trade war soured sentiment.

Back home, stocks related to telecom sector edged lower after President Ram Nath Kovind stating that the telecom sector was a critical component for achieving rapid economic progress and socio-economic development. However, stocks related to real estate sector ended higher with a private report that the private equity (PE) investment in Indian real estate sector grew by an average 36% annually to reach $8.6 billion in 2017 from $2.5 billion in 2014.

The BSE Sensex ended at 36525.56, up by 259.63 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 36422.08 and 36699.53. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.62%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.99%, Oil & Gas up by 1.63%, Bankex up by 0.76%, Capital Goods up by 0.60% and FMCG up by 0.48%, while Realty down by 1.15%, Auto down by 0.77%, TECK down by 0.68%, Basic Materials down by 0.65% and Metal down by 0.59% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 4.25%, Wipro up by 2.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.91%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.85% and HDFC up by 1.50%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.94%, Infosys down by 1.95%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.71%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.64% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.30% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the World Bank in its latest report stated that Indian economy has now become world’s sixth-biggest economy in 2017. The country pushed France to the seventh spot and ranked ahead of several European Union (EU) states. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was valued at $2.597 trillion at the end of 2017 overtaking French economy, which was amounted at $2.582 trillion last year. However, in terms of per capita GDP, India still lags far behind France, which is nearly 20 times bigger in comparison. This is because of the huge size of India’s population, which is estimated to be around 134 crore against only 6.7 crore of France.

According to the World Bank, Indian economy has benefitted from robust performances in manufacturing sector driven by increased consumer spending. It also noted that demonetisation in November 2016 and chaotic implementation of goods and services tax (GST) rollout in July last year were to be blamed for extended slowdown of Indian economy.

The report showed that the United Kingdom, which is facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of $2.62 trillion, which is about $25 billion more than that of India. The US is the world's largest economy with a size of $19.39 trillion, followed by China (USD 12.23 trillion) at the second place. Japan (USD 4.87 trillion) and Germany (USD 3.67 trillion) are at the third and fourth places, respectively. Based on GDP size, other three countries in the top ten are Brazil (8th), Italy (9th) and Canada (10th).

The CNX Nifty ended at 11016.75, up by 68.45 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 10999.65 and 11078.30. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 4.05%, BPCL up by 2.89%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.62%, Wipro up by 2.46% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.40%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, UPL down by 4.16%, Vedanta down by 2.87%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.04%, Infosys down by 1.95% and Grasim Industries down by 1.82% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; Germany’s DAX increased 32.52 points or 0.26% to 12,449.65, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 10.36 points or 0.30% to 5,370.29 and France’s CAC added 49.29 points or 0.65% to 7,641.25.

Asian equity markets ended higher on Thursday on expectations that the US threats to expand tariff hikes is bluff and bluster and trade agreements will ultimately be reached. Oil steadied after going into free fall on Wednesday amid supply concerns and the yen weakened ahead of US consumer price inflation due tonight, while gold held steady near one-week low. Chinese stocks rose as state media sought to downplay recent market turbulence and the central bank set a stronger daily currency fixing than traders had expected. Further, Japanese shares recovered from sharp losses in the previous session after the dollar hit a six-month high against the yen on the back of strong producer price inflation data released overnight.