Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with gains on Monday. After a cautious start, markets remained volatile during morning deals. Traders were cautious as a private report stated that it is highly unlikely that India will become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 due to the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, India recorded 33,221 new Covid-19 cases and 421 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 32,225,175 and the death toll to 431,674.

In late morning deals, indices added some gains, taking support with ICRA Ratings’ report stating that most states are likely to be in better fiscal health this financial year as 20 of them are collectively carrying forward Rs 2.6 lakh crore borrowed in FY21 to this fiscal. It said this also explains why the states have been borrowing less so far this year despite the pandemic-driven revenue crunch and the soaring public expenses towards health and food.

Sentiments remained upbeat as India's annual wholesale price inflation eased to 11.16% in July from the previous month's 12.07%, helped by lower increases in the cost of fuel and food items. A low-base effect also contributed to the WPI inflation in July, since it stood at minus 0.25% in the corresponding month of 2020. Some support also came as RBI data showed country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $889 million to a lifetime high of $621.464 billion in the week ended August 6, 2021.

Markets maintained their trade in green till the end of the trading session, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ambitious Rs 100 lakh crore holistic infrastructure development program 'Gatishakti', which is aimed at boosting employment opportunities and productivity of industries. Besides, leading stock exchange NSE, which helped transform the country's deep-rooted savings tradition into equity culture, has witnessed over 50 lakh new investor registrations in the current fiscal.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower, as weak Chinese economic data pointed to a Covid-induced slowdown while geopolitical turmoil prompted caution. Asian markets settled mostly lower on Monday, even after Japan's gross domestic product expanded an annualized 1.3 percent on year in the second quarter of 2021, the Cabinet Office said in Monday's preliminary report. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.7 percent following the 3.9 percent contraction in the first quarter.

The BSE Sensex ended at 55582.58, up by 145.29 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 55281.02 and 55680.75. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.18%, while Small cap index was down by 0.57%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.79%, Energy up by 1.10%, Oil & Gas up by 0.88%, FMCG up by 0.23% and Basic Materials up by 0.19%, while Telecom down by 0.99%, Auto down by 0.75%, Consumer Durables down by 0.71%, Capital Goods down by 0.67% and Power down by 0.59% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.96%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.64%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.33% and Reliance Industries up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.43%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.05%, Power Grid down by 2.00%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.55% and SBI down by 1.51% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased to 11.16% in the month of July as against 12.07% in June. The annual rate of inflation is 11.16% (Provisional) for the month of July 2021 as compared to (-0.25%) in July 2020.

Component wise, primary articles index having weight of 22.62%, increased by (1.05%) to 153.4 (provisional) in July 2021 from 151.8 (provisional) for the month of June 2021. Prices of Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas, Non-food Articles and Food Articles increased in July 2021 as compared to June 2021. However, prices of Minerals declined in July 2021 as compared to June 2021.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by (0.53%) to 114.3 (provisional) in July 2021 from 113.7 (provisional) for the month of June 2021. Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by (0.38%) to 132.0 (provisional) in July 2021 from 131.5 (provisional) for the month of June 2021.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16563.05, up by 33.95 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 16480.75 and 16589.40. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.95%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.65%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.44% and Britannia up by 2.12%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.50%, Shree Cement down by 2.34%, Power Grid down by 2.19%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.02% and Eicher Motors down by 2.00% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 64.37 points or 0.89% to 7,154.34, France’s CAC decreased 50.55 points or 0.73% to 6,845.49 and Germany’s DAX was down by 72.94 points or 0.46% to 15,904.50.

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Monday after the world’s second-largest economy recorded slow growth in both factory output and retail sales and missed expectations in July, while worries about worsening coronavirus infections in the Asian region also dampened market sentiments. Japanese shares ended lower due to concerns of slow economic growth following the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19, while stronger yen also fuelled selling. However, Chinese shares ended marginally higher after China's central bank, PBoC injected 600 billion yuan ($92.63 billion) in medium-term loans into the financial system and keeping the interest rate unchanged for the 16th month in a row. Meanwhile, the Korean market was closed due to the national holiday, Liberation Day.