Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended near their day’s high points on Thursday. Key indices made a positive start of the day, taking support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that banks are going to be the catalysts for economic revival. Some support also came with report that the government is planning to save about Rs 35,000 crore to help manage the fiscal load put by the production-linked incentive (PLI) and phased manufacturing program (PMP) schemes, its initiatives to attract investment into the country. Traders took note of report that Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said India was the youngest country with a vibrant startup eco-system and it must convert the present (COVID-19) crisis into an opportunity.

Markets remained higher for the whole trading session, despite negative cues from the global markets. Traders remained positive, as India's exports during the first week of September jumped 13.35 per cent year-on-year to 6.12 billion dollars. At the same time, imports declined by 21.37 per cent to 6.85 billion dollars. Consequently, the deficit during September 1 to 7 worked out to 730 million dollars. Indices extended gains at the end of the session, as sentiments also remained upbeat, after centre launched the Aatmanirbhar Bharat ARISE-Atal New India Challenges programme to support MSMEs and start-ups for making India innovative, resilient, tech-driven, and research and development (R&D)-oriented.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower, as investors waited for the outcome of the European Central Bank meeting. Treasuries gained, while crude oil declined. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, even after the total value of core machine orders in Japan gained a seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent on month in July, coming in at 751.3 billion yen. That beat expectations for an increase of 1.9 percent following the 7.6 percent decline in June. On a yearly basis, core machine orders dropped 16.2 percent - also beating forecasts for a fall of 18.3 percent after tumbling 22.5 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38840.32, up by 646.40 points or 1.69% after trading in a range of 38367.07 and 38878.25. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 1.27%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 6.26%, Oil & Gas up by 3.59%, PSU up by 1.58%, Consumer Disc up by 1.15% and Basic Materials up by 0.98%, while Telecom down by 1.42%, Metal down by 0.87% and Consumer Durables down by 0.03% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 7.10%, Asian Paints up by 4.25%, Axis Bank up by 3.70%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.79% and Indusind Bank up by 2.51%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.24%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.48%, HDFC Bank down by 0.46% and Titan Co down by 0.38% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to provide convenience of banking services to the customers, Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has unveiled doorstep banking services by PSBs. The services shall be rendered by the doorstep banking agents deployed by the selected Service Providers at 100 centres across the country.

As part of the EASE Reforms, doorstep banking services is envisaged to provide convenience of banking services to the customers at their door step through the universal touch points of Call Centre, Web Portal or Mobile App.  Customers can also track their service request through these channels.

The services can be availed by customers of Public Sector Banks at nominal charges. The services shall benefit all customers, particularly Senior Citizens and Divyangs who would find it at ease to avail these services.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11449.25, up by 171.25 points or 1.52% after trading in a range of 11327.40 and 11464.05. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 7.06%, BPCL up by 6.00%, Asian Paints up by 3.92%, Grasim Industries up by 3.81% and Indian Oil Corp. up by 3.72%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.99%, Hindalco down by 3.36%, Tata Steel down by 2.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.37% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.11% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 40.35 points or 0.67% to 5,972.49, France’s CAC decreased 21.17 points or 0.42% to 5,021.81 and Germany’s DAX was down by 12.50 points or 0.09% to 13,224.71.

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday despite the gains on Wall Street overnight. Investors are now look ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy decision due later in the day, at which the Governing Council is expected to keep its 1.35 trillion euro ($1.6 trillion) emergency bond-buying program and record-low interest rates unchanged for now. Chinese shares end lower as more than 300 startups plunged earlier in the session after regulators moved to curb speculation on the tech-heavy ChiNext board. Though, Japanese shares ended up as the safe-haven yen weakened against the dollar, lifting exporters' stocks.