Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended on a flat note on Wednesday’s trading session. Key indices made a negative start of the trading day, as domestic sentiments were negative after Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) chief executive Mahesh Vyas has said that over 10 million Indians have lost their jobs because of the second wave of COVID-19, and around 97 per cent of households' incomes have declined since the beginning of the pandemic last year. Some concerns also came amid report stating that India reported 133,228 fresh Covid-19 infections, taking the caseload to 28,306,883. With 3,205 new fatalities, the death toll is now at 335,114, Worldometer showed. India continues to be the second worst-hit nation.

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street for the almost whole day, amid reports that even though the cost of funds for the Centre has been trending down following the deft yield management by the Reserve Bank, for the hapless states, whose finances are crippled by the continuing lockdowns, it has been heading north and so far this fiscal as the average interest rate on their market borrowings has jumped 30 bps to 6.86 per cent. In the last hour of the trade, indices cut losses to end flat, after India’s exports grew by 67.39 per cent to $32.21 billion in May driven by healthy growth in sectors such as engineering, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products and chemicals. Exports in May last year stood at $19.24 billion and in May 2019 it was at $29.85 billion. Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the dream of a self-reliant and digital India will only be realized by taking along the agriculture sector.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher, helped by energy and consumer stocks, while strong economic data from U.S. and Europe buoyed investors' sentiment. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, after the manufacturing sector in Indonesia continued to expand in May, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics revealed on Wednesday with a record-high manufacturing PMI score of 55.3. That's up from 54.6 and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The two biggest components of the headline index, output and new orders, were the main contributors to the record improvement of the manufacturing sector in May. Firms saw a stronger increase in overall demand, supported by a second month of international new order growth, which led to rising manufacturing production in May.

The BSE Sensex ended at 51849.48, down by 85.40 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 51450.58 and 51913.92. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.75%, while Small cap index up by 1.29%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.80%, Energy up by 1.76%, Auto up by 1.66%, Realty up by 1.52% and Utilities up by 1.51%, while TECK down by 0.56%, IT down by 0.54%, FMCG down by 0.46%, Bankex down by 0.16% and Telecom down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.81%, Power Grid up by 1.58%, Reliance Industries up by 1.52%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.41% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.30%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.88%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.20%, Axis Bank down by 1.08%, Asian Paints down by 0.95% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.84% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, underlining the importance of the agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the dream of a self-reliant and digital India will only be realized by taking along the agriculture sector.

The Minister also noted that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has shown the way to the country in this regard, based on which the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has taken concrete steps for digitization of agriculture sector.

Tomar further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's determination has invigorated the farming sector and a number of schemes including the historic Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) worth Rs 75,000 crore per annum are being implemented transparently to increase the income of farmers.

The CNX Nifty ended at 15576.20, up by 1.35 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 15459.85 and 15597.45. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.67%, Tata Steel up by 2.10%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.87%, Indusind Bank up by 1.78% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.67%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.90%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.31%, Axis Bank down by 1.09%, Asian Paints down by 0.93% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.77% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 23.10 points or 0.33% to 7,103.56, France’s CAC increased 7.23 points or 0.11% to 6,496.63 and Germany’s DAX was up by 15.85 points or 0.1% to 15,583.21.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday after US manufacturing data showed a stronger-than-expected pickup in activity, which signals a continued rebound in the world’s largest economy. While unfinished work piled up in the US because of shortages of raw materials and labour. Investors will be eyeing US jobs data due Friday for clues to the Fed's plans for policy in the coming weeks and months. Japanese shares rose with economic reopening hopes. However, Chinese shares ended lower as healthcare firms dropped a day after the sector was lifted by China’s recent three-child policy.