Markets to get flat-to-negative start amid mixed global cues

Indian markets wiped out early gains and ended lower on Thursday tracking mixed global cues and amid caution ahead of the release of July's retail inflation print. Today, the markets are likely to get flat-to-negative start amid mixed global cues coupled with rising coronavirus cases in the country. India has recorded over 64,000 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 2,459,613. Traders will be concerned with the data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) showing that India's retail inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 6.93 percent in the month of July as food prices continued to soar due to disrupted supply chains. Investors will now eye Wholesale inflation data, likely to be released later today. market participants will also looking to the meeting of Reserve Bank of India’s board, led by governor Shaktikanta Das, to be held today amid expectations that the RBI will disclose its dividend payout to the government. However, some support may come later in the day as the Union Health Ministry said the Covid-19 recovery rate has risen to 70.77 per cent on August 13 with the total number of patients recuperating from the disease reaching nearly 1.7 million, while the case fatality rate has further declined to 1.96 per cent. Traders may take note of Crisil’s report that sales tax revenue for states on petroleum products will grow by up to 9 percent in FY21 despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aviation stocks will be in focus with civil aviation regulator - the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s(DGCA) statement that a total of 2.1 million people travelled by air domestically in July this year, which is 82.3 per cent lower than the corresponding period last year. Telecom stocks will be in limelight as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the AGR case today. During its last hearing, the apex court observed the government to prepare a plan to recover adjusted gross revenue-related dues from bankrupt telecom operators. There will be lots of earnings announcements too, to keep the markets in action.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as traders kept an eye on developments in Washington, where Democrats and White House officials remain at an impasse over a coronavirus relief bill. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday as investors remained cautious after US lawmakers seemed unable to move forward with a coronavirus stimulus bill.

Back home, Indian benchmark indices gave up all of their morning gains and ended on a flat note with negative bias on Thursday amid selling in Telecom, Healthcare and Banking counters. Earlier in the day, benchmarks opened higher amid firm cues from global peers. Sentiments got a boost with a private report that 70 per cent of all reported coronavirus cases in India have now recovered. The steepest rise in the recovery rate has been in the month of August, with the recovery rate gaining almost six percentage points in just 12 days. Sentiments remained optimistic with private report stating that amid the economic fallout caused due to the coronavirus outbreak, the government may soon roll out another set of stimulus measures and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will unveil these steps. Traders also took note of report that Union minister Nitin Gadkari called for increased investment by international institutions and bodies in the Indian Highways and MSME sectors. However, domestic bourses pared initial gains and turned highly volatile in second half of the session, as investors awaited the release of retail inflation data later in the day for more clarity on the monetary policy outlook. Traders failed to get respite with India Ratings and Research’s (Ind-Ra) report that non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are likely to see an increase in their refinancing requirements with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitting banks to go for one-time restructuring of loans that are facing stress due to the COVID-19 crisis. Separately, in order to improve the efficiency, transparency and integrity of the asset classification process, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked large urban cooperative banks (UCBs) to undertake the system-based asset classification from June 30, 2021. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 59.14 points or 0.15% to 38,310.49, while the CNX Nifty was down by 7.95 points or 0.07% to 11,300.45.