Post Session: Quick Review

Oscillating between positive and negative terrain, Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a strong relief rally in dying hour of trade which helped to close the session near intraday high levels on Tuesday. Markets halted five-day losing streak, with Sensex and Nifty settling above their crucial 36,650 and 11,050 levels, respectively. Domestic indices made a cautious start and traded marginally in red amid feeble global cues. Traders remained concerned with private report stating that India’s current account deficit (CAD) is expected to be widened by 0.20 per cent to 2.8 per cent of GDP for fiscal year 2018-19. The widening current account gap is one of the major concerns which is putting pressure on the rupee, which has depreciated 13 per cent against dollar this year. Sentiments also weighed down with World Bank’s report that India’s current trade in goods with its neighbouring countries in the South Asian region is a mere 30.65 per cent of the potential trade of $ 62 billion, which can be boosted if certain restrictions on the current trade, like tariffs, port restrictions and other non-tariff barriers can be eased.

However, key indices pared all of their losses and staged smart recovery in the dying hours of trade, by rallying around one percentage point, as optimism spread on the street with a report that rising imports from China have taken a heavy toll on the employment-generation potential of the manufacturing sector, especially among the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Traders also took some encouragement with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President D K Aggarwal’s statement that India is approaching towards $100 billion FDI inflow per annum by 2022 as volumes of foreign direct investment are increasing year after year.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed on Tuesday amid concerns over the ongoing trade spat between the U.S. and China. European markets were trading in red in early deals, supported by strong earnings. Back home, stocks of oil marketing companies (OMCs) declined as fuel prices increased, with petrol registering a record high of Rs 90.22 a litre in Mumbai. Diesel prices too rose in the financial capital to Rs 78.69 a litre. Stocks related to public sector banks (PSBs) ended lower ahead of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s annual review meeting with chief executives and the top management of PSBs on September 25.

The BSE Sensex ended at 36658.71, up by 353.69 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 36064.10 and 36700.16. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.63%, while Small cap index was down by 0.62%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.84%, Bankex up by 1.73%, Auto up by 1.21%, FMCG up by 1.14% and Basic Materials up by 0.91%, while Realty down by 1.06%, Utilities down by 0.92%, Telecom down by 0.68%, Industrials down by 0.29% and Energy down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.15%, Axis Bank up by 3.14%, HDFC up by 2.81%, SBI up by 2.78% and Hindustan Unilever up by 2.71%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.18%, Power Grid down by 3.17%, Coal India down by 2.29%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.98% and Wipro down by 1.44% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid rising fuel prices, the domestic air passenger traffic registered lowest growth since May, at 17.17% in the month of August. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 113.54 lakh passengers in August 2018, over to 96.90 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year.

As per the report, the domestic air passenger count has gone up by 21.20% during the period of January-August 2018. Indian carriers carried 913.95 lakh passengers during January-August 2018 as against 754.11 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year. Besides, in terms of passenger load factor (PLF), SpiceJet was leading among all with 93.6% PLF during the month of August 2018, followed by Go Air (84.6%), IndiGo (82.8%), Air India (82.3%) and Jet Airways (82.0%).

In terms of on time performance (OTP), SpiceJet has taken lead from the rest with 87.4% of its flights arriving and departing as per schedule from four metro airports, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, followed by IndiGo (87.2%) and Go Air (87.2%). During August 2018, a total of 668 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of August 2018 has been around 0.59.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11071.65, up by 104.25 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 10882.85 and 11080.60. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.50%, Axis Bank up by 3.16%, SBI up by 2.91%, Lupin up by 2.91% and HDFC up by 2.84%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.29%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.97%, GAIL India down by 2.80%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.69% and Power Grid down by 2.48% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 14.98 points or 0.2% to 7,473.39, France’s CAC was up by 7.27 points or 0.13% to 5,483.44 and Germany’s DAX rose 14.68 points or 0.12% to 12,365.50.

Asian markets ended mixed on Tuesday as the latest exchange of US-China tariffs, rising oil prices and political turbulence in the US coming ahead of the mid-term elections dented sentiments. Investors also awaited cues from the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday, at which the central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. Chinese shares ended lower as markets resumed trading after a holiday on Monday. However, Japanese shares ended higher, helped by gains in chip-related stocks that offset weakness in construction equipment manufacturers, which fell on worries that a new round of US-China trade tariffs could hurt global demand. Markets in Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for public holidays.