Post Session: Quick Review

Buying activity which took place during late hour of trade mainly helped markets to cut all of their losses and end Tuesday’s session with strong gains. With that, the markets snapped nine sessions’ losing streak, recapturing their crucial 11,200 (Nifty) and 37,350 (Sensex) bastions. The day began on negative note, tracking subdued trading in global markets after US-China trade war escalated. Traders remain concerned with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showing that retail inflation inched up to a six-month high of 2.92% in April due to a spike in food prices, including vegetables, meat, fish and eggs. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at 2.86% in the previous month and 4.58% in April 2018. Markets continued to trade with small losses in afternoon trade, as some pessimism also spread among investors with Moody's Investors Service stated that India’s rising oil consumption will support its investments in refining capacity additions and upstream production, but imports will keep growing amid stagnant production.

However, key indices pared all of their losses and made a smart rebound in late hours of trade, as optimism spread on the street with data showing that wholesale price inflation (WPI) for the month of April eased to 3.07 percent compared to 3.18 percent in March led by fall in prices of manufacturing products. Traders also took some encouragement with Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian’s statement that the Indian economy will grow at 7% range in the current fiscal powered by the effects of the strong structural reforms such as bankruptcy laws, Goods and Services Tax (GST), crackdown on shell companies and the fiscal prudence undertaken in the last five years.

On the global front, Asian markets ended lower on Tuesday after China announced tariffs on about $60 billion worth of US goods in retaliation for the US decision to raise tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. European markets were trading in green after hitting two-month lows a day earlier, as comments overnight from Washington and Beijing helped soothe investor worries about a deepening trade row and defy a heavy sell-off on Wall Street. Back home, sugar stock were in focus, as a report stated that the country’s sugar exports surged to 21.29 lakh tonne so far in the current marketing year ending September, as against about five lakh tonnes shipped in the entire 2017-18. Out of the 21.29 lakh tonnes exported between October 1 and April 6, raw sugar accounted for 9.76 lakh tonnes.

The BSE Sensex ended at 37383.28, up by 292.46 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 36956.10 and 37572.70. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.76%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.99%, Energy up by 2.09%, Capital Goods up by 1.66%, Oil & Gas up by 1.55% and PSU up by 1.49%, while IT down by 1.08% and TECK down by 0.61% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 5.67%, Sun Pharma up by 5.58%, Vedanta up by 4.21%, SBI up by 2.95% and Indusind Bank up by 2.90%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, TCS down by 1.77%, HCL Tech. down by 1.43%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.42%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.08% and Asian Paints down by 0.96% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) continued northward journey for third straight month and inched up to a 6-month high of 2.92% in April 2019 due to a spike in food prices, including vegetables, meat, fish and eggs. The data showed that inflation was at 2.86% in March 2019 and 4.58% in April 2018. The rate of price rise in April is the highest since October 2018 when the rate was 3.38%. Besides, inflation in the food basket was 1.10% in April, up from 0.30% in March, while it was 2.80 in April 2018.

As per the data of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme, the CPI (Rural, Urban, Combined) on Base2012=100 for April 2019, stood at 1.87%, 4.23% and 2.92%, respectively, compared to 4.67%, 4.42% and 4.58%, respectively in April 2018. The index value of CPI for combined stood at 141.1. The data also showed that CFPI for all India Rural and Urban for April 2019 stood at (-) 0.80% and 4.64%, respectively, compared to 3.63% and 1.29%, respectively in April 2018. The index value of CFPI for combined stood at 137.3 for the month of April.

Prices of vegetables rose by 2.87% against a contraction in March. However, fruit prices declined in April compared to the year-ago month. Besides, food & beverage inflation rose to 1.38% in April from 0.66% in March 2019, the fuel, light inflation was recorded at 2.56% in April 2019 against 2.42% in March 2019, while, the housing inflation decreased to 4.76% in April 2019 from 4.93% in March 2019. Meantime, Pan, tobacco and intoxicants saw rate of 4.27%, clothing & footwear was at 2.01%.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11237.50, up by 89.30 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 11108.30 and 11294.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 6.05%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.87%, Sun Pharma up by 5.31%, Vedanta up by 4.70% and GAIL India up by 3.49%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.13%, TCS down by 1.61%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.60%, Wipro down by 1.30% and HCL Tech. down by 1.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 57.99 points or 0.81% to 7,221.67, France’s CAC increased 51.37 points or 0.98% to 5,313.94 and Germany’s DAX increased 49.19 points or 0.41% to 11,925.84.

Asian markets ended lower on Tuesday after China announced tariffs on about $60 billion worth of US goods in retaliation for the US decision to raise tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. The office of US Trade Representative is taking necessary steps to raise duties of up to 25 percent on a further $300 billion worth of imports from China, with a public hearing likely on June 17, followed by at least a week of discussions, leading up to the G-20 summit. Japanese shares ended lower as investors remained fearful of a full-blow trade war. On economic front, Japan posted a current account surplus of 2,847.9 billion yen in March, official data showed - down 10.6 percent from last year. That missed forecasts for a surplus of 3,007.2 billion yen but was still up from 2,676.8 billion yen in February. The trade balance showed a surplus of 700.1 billion yen, also missing expectations for 838.9 billion yen and up from 489.2 billion yen in the previous month.