Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended Friday’s trade in green terrain that marked a second straight day of gain for the markets. Sensex settled above crucial 38,350 mark, while Nifty ended just shy of 11,600 mark. Markets made a pessimistic start, tracking feeble global cues. Sentiments remained downbeat with NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that India needs to cut down on oil imports and switch towards electric mobility, and stressed on the Centre’s focus towards urban mobility. However, markets trimmed all of its initial losses and turned into positive terrain in noon deals, aided by strong gains in automobiles and metal stocks after the rupee firmed against US dollar. Traders found some support with Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India seeks US partnership to boost various sectors and grow the bilateral trade to $500-600 billion from $125 billion currently, with a good strategy under a stipulated time. Optimism remained on the street with a report that the Centre is planning to slash the number of GST rate slabs from the present five to two in the near future. Some relief also came in with credit rating agency, ICRA in its latest report revealed that aggregate revenues of Indian corporate sector witnessed rise of 17.1% during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (Q1FY19), on a lower base in the year-ago period due to impact of GST implementation.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, while European markets were trading in red in early deals, as investors fret that the US will ramp up its trade war with China by imposing fresh tariffs. Back home, select power stocks ended lower after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused the Power Ministry's request to give certain concessions for setting up of an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) for warehousing stressed assets to prevent distress sale of these plants. Public sector banks (PSBs) stocks were in focus with report that a parliamentary committee has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to relax the capital-adequacy norms for at least nine out of 21 PSBs that may free up capital up to Rs 5.34 trillion, helping the expansion of lenders. 

The BSE Sensex ended at 38359.65, up by 116.84 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 38067.22 and 38421.56. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.47%, Auto up by 2.02%, Metal up by 1.91%, Basic Materials up by 1.32% and Consumer Disc up by 1.24%, while Bankex down by 0.20% and Power down by 0.10% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 5.47%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.21%, Bajaj Auto up by 5.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.96% and Tata Steel up by 3.25%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.76%, Sun Pharma down by 2.02%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.82%, Power Grid down by 1.81% and SBI down by 1.69% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, expressing confidence on the growth of the Indian economy, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu has said that India will become a $5 trillion economy in seven years from the present 2.6 trillion dollars, with phenomenal changes in social and economic sector reforms. He also said that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 8.2% in the Q1FY19 will be consolidated and continue going forward and India would certainly become a $10 trillion economy by 2035.

In order to boost growth, Prabhu said that the government has prepared a multi-sectoral strategy besides the reforms and improving the ease of doing business. He said a new industrial policy is on the anvil with dual focus on modernizing existing businesses and getting new and futuristic businesses into the economy, for which 12 champion service sectors have been identified for systematic promotion.

The Minister expressed hope that the ‘Make In India’ initiative will become an even bigger success in the future and said ‘Start-ups are the best laboratory for change and innovation. We already have around 20,000 start-ups registered with DIPP and are promoting in a major way across the country.’ On the agriculture and horticulture growth, he said the government aims to double the income of farmers by 2022, while the country notched the highest export growth in the past six years in FY18.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11583.20, up by 46.30 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 11484.40 and 11603.00. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 5.28%, Bajaj Auto up by 5.07%, Lupin up by 4.67%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.49% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.01%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.83%, Sun Pharma down by 2.26%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.99%, HDFC down by 1.98% and Power Grid down by 1.96% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 27.17 points or 0.37% to 7,291.79, France’s CAC was down by 10.08 points or 0.19% to 5,233.76 and Germany’s DAX shed 38.83 points or 0.33% to 11,916.42.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday as another round of US tariffs on China loomed and investors looked ahead to the US Labor Department's August jobs report for clues to central bank rate hikes. US employment is likely to increase by about 191,000 jobs in August after an increase of 157,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent. Chinese shares closed modestly higher in cautious trade, as a deadline for public comments on fresh US tariffs expired. Further, Japanese shares closed lower and the yen strengthened against the dollar as investors awaited the US tariff decision and the outcome of US-Canada talks. Sentiment was also dented after US President Trump reportedly told a columnist for The Wall Street Journal that he was ‘still bothered by the terms of US trade with Japan’.