Markets end higher for third straight session

Indian equity markets ended higher for third straight session on Tuesday, with Sensex and Nifty gaining 165 and 42 points respectively. After a firm start, markets witnessed volatility just for short duration and then staged recovery to remain positive throughout the day, amid reports that SEBI proposed an informant mechanism to blow the whistle on insider trading cases, wherein genuine whistleblowers could get monetary reward of Rs 1 crore as well as amnesty from regulatory action. Traders remained optimistic with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) ministry’s additional secretary Ram Mohan Mishra’s statement that ministry is working on developing enterprise facilitation centres at block level across the country to make MSMEs more competitive and help them integrate with big enterprises.

Market participants were seen taking encouragement with Crisil’s latest report which stated that the system-wide non-performing assets (NPAs) stock declined massively to 9.3 per cent in last fiscal year (FY19), after tripling to 11.5 per cent in the four fiscals till March 2018. The decline was much faster than the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) estimate. However, key indices failed to hold day’s high points at the end of the session, after Arvind Subramanian, Narendra Modi government's former chief economic adviser, said that India's economic growth rate has been overestimated by around 2.5 percentage points between 2011-12 and 2016-17 due to a change in methodology for calculating GDP.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even though Eurozone investor confidence eroded sharply in June as a renewed escalation in trade tensions between the US and China hurt sentiment in the single currency bloc. The survey data from the behavioral research institute Sentix showed that the investor confidence index for the euro area fell by 8 points to -3.3 from +5.3 in May. Asian markets ended in green, after Malaysia's industrial production growth accelerated unexpectedly in April. The data from the Department of Statistics revealed that industrial production rose 4.0 percent year-on-year in April, following a 3.1 percent increase in March.

Back home, stocks related to the auto industry ended higher, despite the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data report showing that domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 20.55 percent to 2,39,347 units in May 2019 from 3,01,238 units in May 2018. Domestic car sales were down 26.03 percent to 1,47,546 units as against 1,99,479 units in May 2018. Further, insurance companies stocks remained in focus, amid a private report indicating that the insurance industry in India saw a growth spike after privatisation, but the penetration of products still remains low.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 165.94 points or 0.42% to 39,950.46, while the CNX Nifty was up by 42.90 points or 0.36% to 11,965.60.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 40,066.31 and 39,760.02, respectively and there were 24 stocks advancing against 07 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.33%, PSU up by 0.91%, Oil & Gas up by 0.91%, Bankex up by 0.87% and Energy up by 0.77%, while Capital Goods down by 0.05% and FMCG down by 0.05% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.38%, Tata Motors up by 2.71%, ONGC up by 2.58%, Yes Bank up by 2.50% and Indusind Bank up by 2.39%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.38%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.49%, Coal India down by 0.48% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is planning to establish a ‘National Data Warehouse on Official Statistics’ where technology will be leveraged for using Big Data Analytical tools for further improving the quality of macro-economic aggregates. It said efforts are also on to evolve a legislative framework under which the National Statistical Commission (NSC) may function with independence and give holistic guidance for improving the national statistical system.

MoSPI has stated that as far as the statistical reforms are concerned, it is important to note that system reforms are an ongoing process and are necessary for ensuring responsiveness to the changing needs of society. It also said that over a period of time, there have been increasing demands on the statistical system for the production of relevant and quality statistics. The Ministry has been accommodating these demands by optimising the available resources and use of technology.

According to ministry, revision in GDP estimates occur when data coverage from administrative sources improves over time and these improvements get well documented. Consequently, the initial estimates of GDP tend to be conservative. To improve this, the Ministry said it would require concomitant changes in the sectoral data flows and associated regulatory framework in the data source agencies to facilitate the use of more macro modelling techniques.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 12,000.35 and 11,904.35. There were 32 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while 1 remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.83%, Yes Bank up by 2.83%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.73%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.70% and JSW Steel up by 2.64%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 8.07%, Sun Pharma down by 2.62%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.62%, BPCL down by 0.94% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.81% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 35.17 points or 0.48% to 7,410.71, France’s CAC increased 40.95 points or 0.76% to 5,423.45 and Germany’s DAX increased 157.19 points or 1.3% to 12,202.57.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday as investor jitters over trade eased after US President Donald Trump suspended plans to impose tariffs on Mexican imports and said he expects to meet with the Chinese leader. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatening to slap huge new tariffs on China if his counterpart Xi Jinping doesn't attend the upcoming G20 meeting. Chinese stocks ended higher after Beijing said it would allow local governments to use proceeds from special bonds as capital for major projects including highways, gas and power supply and railways. Further, Japanese shares finished higher as the yen's retreat against the dollar helped lift exporters.