Post Session: Quick Review

Bulls which woke up in last leg of trade mainly helped the benchmarks to continue their record hitting spree for fourth straight day on Tuesday. The benchmarks made a sluggish start as traders were concerned with a private report stating that there is 60% probability that the RBI in its three-day bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting may hike repo rates by 25 basis points. Investors continued to have a cautious approach towards Moody’s Investors Service’s report which stated that the GST Council’s decision to lower rates on several goods and also rationalise rates on some services will impact government’s fiscal consolidation effort. Traders also took note of RBI’s data showing that India Inc raised $2.71 billion through external commercial borrowing (ECB) and rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs) in June 2018, up by 66.3% over the same month last year. As per the data, Indian companies had raised $1.63 billion from overseas sources in June 2017.

However, markets took a sharp U-turn in final hour of trade and staged splendid recovery to enter into green, as optimism spread on the street after the government sought Parliament's approval for additional gross additional expenditure of Rs 11,697.92 crore for the current fiscal. Adding the confidence among investors, a private report stated that GDP growth is likely to peak in April-June quarter and then moderate to 7.2% in the second half of 2018 from around 7.8% in first half. Some support also came with report that corporate India’s business optimism index for the July-September quarter registered an 11.7% increase over last year. The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stood at 80.6 during the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 11.7% as compared to the corresponding period last year.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed, as the Bank of Japan tweaked its monetary policy in a bid to make its massive easing programme sustainable. European markets were trading mostly in green in early deals on Tuesday, as the market absorbed a new round of corporate earnings reports, including well-received results from Swiss banking heavyweight Credit Suisse.

Back home, steel sector was in focus after India Ratings expects the domestic steel industry's operational and financial performance to continue to improve, backed by steady sales realisations and higher margins -- supported by an improved demand-supply balance. Besides, logistics sector was also in limelight after Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu stated that expenditure on investment in logistics, including infrastructure, will touch $500 billion annually by 2025.

The BSE Sensex ended at 37616.12, up by 121.72 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 37298.75 and 37644.59. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.87%, Consumer Durables up by 1.03%, IT up by 0.99%, Realty up by 0.91% and Capital Goods up by 0.86%, while Bankex down by 0.46%, PSU down by 0.33%, Telecom down by 0.09% and Utilities down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.94%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.44%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.39%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.39% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.67%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.54%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.97%, HDFC down by 1.53%, ITC down by 1.38% and SBI down by 1.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to boost domestic and global trade, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the government is taking legislative as well as administrative measures for an integrated strategy to reduce logistics related hurdles. He added that competitiveness and movement of goods has been impacted by high cost of logistics. Besides, the Indian logistics industry is estimated at around $215 billion, which is growing at over 10% annually.

Prabhu further said that the country should increase share in global trade and logistics plays a very important role in that. In order to reduce cost of exports, imports and domestic trade, he said that the ministry is preparing an integrated strategy and also developing a national logistics portal as a single window market place to link all stakeholders. He added that billions of dollars of investments are required to improve logistics sector.

The Department of Logistics, under the ministry, also inked a memorandum of understanding with Indian institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) to set up a center for logistics. The cost of logistics for India is about 14% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is far higher as compared to other countries. The newly created logistics department, headed by Special Secretary Binoy Kumar is working on these initiatives.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11362.50, up by 42.95 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 11267.75 and 11366.00. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.79%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.04%, Reliance Industries up by 2.90%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.55% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.48%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 3.76%, Axis Bank down by 3.59%, Eicher Motors down by 2.79%, HDFC down by 1.54% and Vedanta down by 1.31% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased by 13.16 points or 0.17% to 7,714.01 and France’s CAC was up by 1.14 points or 0.02% to 5,492.36, while Germany’s DAX was down by 10.45 points or 0.08% to 12,787.75.

Asian equity markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday. Chinese shares ended higher, aided by gains in real estate and energy firms, while the market response to the country’s manufacturing data has been relatively muted. A gauge of China's manufacturing activity slid to 51.2 in July from 51.5 a month ago while analysts expected it to ease marginally to 51.3. The non-manufacturing PMI dropped to 54.0 from 55 in June. Japanese shares ended slightly higher amid economic data proving to be a mixed bag. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy steady, as widely expected, but announced policy tweaks to make its policy framework more flexible for the long-term yield target. Meanwhile, traders also awaited cues from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England policy meetings due this week. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement is due on Wednesday, with traders likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates. The Bank of England is widely expected to increase rates by a quarter point when it concludes its policy meeting on Thursday.