Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity Markets traded with volatility for whole trading session and somehow managed to end in green terrain on Monday, on the back of buying by participants amid mostly positive trade in other Asian equities. Markets started off with marginal gains, as traders took some support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the government has succeeded in keeping ‘complete control’ over retail inflation. The government has achieved success in not allowing inflation to raise its ‘dirty’ head to cause inconvenience to the consumers. Some optimism also came with the Reserve Bank’s report that the forex kitty continued to surge for the fourth successive week to scale a new lifetime high of $429.911 billion, after a heavy increase in the value of gold and currency assets during the week to July 5.

However, key indices pared early gains to trade flat in afternoon deals as investors took cautious approach with Central Statistics Office (CSO) data indicating that India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth slipped to 3.1 per cent in May mainly on account of subdued performance of mining and manufacturing sector. The IIP had expanded by 3.8 per cent in May 2018. Besides, India's retail inflation hit an eight-month high in June on higher food prices, but stayed below the central bank's target, potentially giving it room for a further interest rate easing to boost slowing growth.

But, late afternoon trade saw renewed buying on the back of easing wholesale price index (WPI) inflation data. Wholesale price-based inflation declined for the second consecutive month to its 23-month low of 2.02 percent in June, helped by decline in prices of vegetables as well as fuel and power items, The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 2.45 percent in May. It was 5.68 per cent in June 2018. The markets also drew some comfort with credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings’ latest report stating that the Budget proposal of relaxing foreign investment limit in insurance intermediaries will strengthen distribution capabilities and increase international involvement, particularly from developed markets.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday, after China’s second-quarter economic growth came in line with consensus, and industrial output and retail sales topped forecasts, suggesting the world’s second-biggest economy may be starting to stabilise thanks to ramped-up stimulus from Beijing. European markets were trading in red, as the Bank of Italy projected that Italy's economic growth is set to slow to 0.1 percent this year from 0.7 percent in 2018.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38905.23, up by 169.00 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 38696.60 and 39023.97. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.60%, while Small cap index was down by 0.66%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.63%, TECK up by 3.06%, Healthcare up by 0.61%, Basic Materials up by 0.40% and Auto up by 0.25%, while Capital Goods down by 1.44%, Consumer Durables down by 1.04%, Industrials down by 1.00%, Telecom down by 0.92% and FMCG down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 7.36%, Sun Pharma up by 3.47%, TCS up by 2.10%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.94% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.90%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.70%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.75%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.53%, ITC down by 1.47% and ICICI Bank down by 1.14% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare has said farmers planted 41.3 million hectares with summer crops, down 8.6 per cent year-on-year after delayed monsoon. However, the gap in sowing narrowed from the previous week as monsoon rains picked up. Farmers start planting their summer-sown crops from June 1 when monsoon rains are expected to reach India, where nearly half of farmlands lack irrigation. Planting usually continues until the end of July.

The ministry highlighted that planting of rice, the key summer crop, was at 9.8 million hectares as of July 10 versus 11 million hectares in the previous year. Corn planting was at 4.1 million hectares. The area planted with cotton was also unchanged at 7.8 million hectares. Sowing of soybean was at 5.2 million hectares, down from 6.4 million hectares the previous year. Other crop plantings such as pulses and sugar cane were also down versus last year.

The figures are provisional and subject to revision as updates arrive with the progress of the June-September monsoon season. Besides, according to the government data, water levels in India's main reservoirs were at 22% of their storage capacity against 23% a year earlier. The last 10 years' average stood at 23%.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11591.55, up by 39.05 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 11532.30 and 11618.40. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 7.32%, Sun Pharma up by 3.48%, UPL up by 2.96%, TCS up by 2.06% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.03%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 4.33%, Indusind Bank down by 2.74%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.76%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.49% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.48% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 11.09 points or 0.15% to 7,494.88, France’s CAC fell 13.92 points or 0.25% to 5,558.94 and Germany’s DAX was down by 2.73 points or 0.02% to 12,320.59.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday with Chinese shares after reports that the US may start approving licenses to certain companies to start selling specific Chinese company's Huawei products in the upcoming two or three weeks, despite official data showed China's GDP growth slowed to 6.2 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, its weakest pace in at least 27 years amid a prolonged trade war with the United States. Meanwhile, June factory output and retail sales figures offered signs of improvement. Annual growth in industrial production advanced more-than-expected to 6.3 percent from 5 percent in May, showing the fastest growth in three months. Likewise, retail sales grew at a faster pace of 9.8 percent after rising 8.6 percent a month ago, against forecast of an 8.5 percent increase for June. Year-to-date fixed asset investment increased 5.8 percent compared to 5.6 percent expansion in January to May period while property investment logged a double-digit growth of 10.9 percent during January to June period. The Japanese market was closed for the Marine Day holiday.