Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower with notable losses on Wednesday’s trading session. After a negative start of the day, markets traded in green for little time during early morning deals, as the government data showed that India’s merchandise exports grew 69.35 per cent year-on-year in May to $32.27 billion on account of low-base effect as well as rising demand from external markets. The growth has been driven by demand for items such as petroleum goods, engineering goods and gems and jewellery.

But, key indices failed to hold their heads above water and remained lower till the end of the trading session, as traders got cautious, after State Bank of India's research division said that driven by several global and domestic factors, inflation may remain elevated in the coming months. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser at SBI, said that faster-than-anticipated and robust recovery in some advanced countries is likely to exert upward pressure on international commodity prices, including crude oil.

Sentiments over the street remained negative during the trading session, as Global forecasting firm Oxford Economics has said retail inflation spike in May might cause the RBI to revisit its focus on growth risks, adding that a rate hike is still unlikely this year. It stated that the underlying dynamics of the May inflation print augur caution and the recovery remains on uncertain ground and with fiscal support in retreat, the RBI will likely be hesitant to remove policy accommodation anytime soon.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower amid markets await the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday, even after the overall value of core machine orders in Japan advanced a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on month in April, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday - standing at 802.9 billion yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 2.7 percent and was down from 3.7 percent in March. On a yearly basis, core machine orders gained 6.5 percent - again missing expectations for 8.0 percent following the 0.2 percent contraction in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex ended at 52501.98, down by 271.07 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 52425.57 and 52816.31. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.95%, while Small cap index was down by 0.68%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.45%, IT up by 0.27% and TECK up by 0.10%, while Metal down by 2.58%, Industrials down by 1.62%, Energy down by 1.43%, Capital Goods down by 1.38% and Power down by 1.33% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.66%, NTPC up by 1.61%, ONGC up by 1.04%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.77% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.18%, Indusind Bank down by 1.89%, Reliance Industries down by 1.69%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.34% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.21% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, reviewing the policy frame work for procurement, distribution and disposal of coarse food grains, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public, Railways and Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal has said that time has come to revise norms to incentivise the farming and distribution of Coarse grains in India. He said that farming and procurement of coarse grains needs to be increased in a planned manner.

The Minister further said that revision of norms will result in encouraging procurement of coarse grain. Production of coarse grains being nutritious food results in sustainable agriculture development, and diversification of crops, their procurement needs to be encouraged.

Besides, the Minister noted that permission to procure will be given only after previous stocks have been disposed of to avoid possible recycling. He said that interstate movement as per requirement of consuming state.

The CNX Nifty ended at 15767.55, down by 101.70 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 15742.60 and 15880.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 2.28%, NTPC up by 1.70%, Nestle up by 1.59%, ONGC up by 1.08% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 7.24%, Tata Steel down by 2.74%, JSW Steel down by 2.72%, Hindalco down by 2.71% and Power Grid down by 2.20% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 2.11 points or 0.03% to 7,170.37, France’s CAC decreased 1.66 points or 0.03% to 6,637.86 and Germany’s DAX was down by 48.77 points or 0.31% to 15,680.75.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday tracking Wall Street’s overnight weakness as markets awaited fresh guidance from the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the day. While, reports showed Americans slowed their spending in May and US producer prices rose at their fastest annual clip in nearly 11 years in the month. Chinese shares ended down following concerns about lofty valuations. Further, rising Sino-West tensions after G7 leaders took the Asian nation to task over a range of issues, which Beijing called a gross interference in the country’s internal affairs also dented Chinese market sentiments. Japanese shares closed lower despite hopes for a vaccine-driven domestic economic recovery. While, the overall value of core machine orders in Japan rose 0.6 percent sequentially in April, missing expectations for an increase of 2.7 percent.