Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on Monday. After a negative start of the day, markets soon turned positive, as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the country’s exports are growing at a healthy rate and now exporters can aim for $450-500 billion of outbound shipments during the next fiscal year. He added exports have touched $197 billion during April-September this fiscal. Traders were positive, as the World Bank in its latest report said that buoyed by an increase in public investment and incentives to boost manufacturing, India's economy is expected to grow by 8.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2021-22.

Sentiments remained energized after Finance Ministry's Monthly Economic Review said that strategic reforms and the rapid vaccination drive have placed the country on the path to swift recovery by enabling the economy to ‘navigate the ravaging waves’ of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustained and robust growth in agriculture, a sharp rebound in manufacturing and industry, resumption of services activity, and buoyant revenues suggest that the economy is progressing well. The external sector continues to offer bright prospects to India's growth revival as the country's merchandise exports crossed the $30-billion mark for the sixth consecutive month in the fiscal year 2021-22.

Key indices traded in green terrain for the most part of the trading session, as domestic sentiments remained positive, amid reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,997 crore so far in October as India continues to be a competitive investment destination from a long-term perspective. Adding more comfort among traders, as another private report stated that the Indian job market maintained its record-breaking run for the third consecutive month in a row, clocking 57 percent year-on-year growth in September. But, in the last hour of the trade, markets cut most of their gains.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red as nerves around inflation and the upcoming earnings season offset surging commodity prices that supported oil and mining shares. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday, after China's service sector recovered in September with renewed and strong increases in both new work and output. The survey results from IHS Markit showed that the Caixin services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 53.4 in September from 46.7 in August.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60135.78, up by 76.72 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 59811.42 and 60476.13. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.55%, while Small cap index up by 0.60%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.80%, Power up by 2.63%, Auto up by 2.51%, Metal up by 1.77% and PSU up by 1.74%, while IT down by 2.87%, TECK down by 2.65%, Telecom down by 0.82% and Energy down by 0.16% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.66%, Power Grid up by 3.09%, ITC up by 2.74%, NTPC up by 2.62% and SBI up by 2.51%. On the flip side, TCS down by 6.32%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.76%, Infosys down by 1.83%, HCL Tech. down by 1.50% and Reliance Industries down by 0.74% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to make retail market more competitive and boost economic growth, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has emphasized on reduction of logistic costs below 10%. He further said that the government is focusing on integrated infrastructure development through the announcement of the National Infra Pipeline and Gati-Shakti programs.

Gadkari also said that it has been planned to construct 25,000 kilometers of National highways within the next 2 years. The Minister said under the National Infrastructure pipeline program, a roadmap of 2,800 projects has been planned with a length of over 1 lakh kilometers. Besides, he said flagship Bharatmala pariyojana has planned development of 34,800 km of highways connecting major urban and economic centers throughout the nation.

Besides, Gadkari said that earlier people were reluctant of using or shifting to electric vehicles and had some reservations but today India is breaking records for sale of electric 2 wheelers and the similar patterns will be followed for four wheelers too. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 17945.95, up by 50.75 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 17839.10 and 18041.95. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 8.57%, Coal India up by 4.46%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.64%, Grasim Industries up by 3.31% and Power Grid up by 3.06%. On the flip side, TCS down by 6.35%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.76%, Infosys down by 1.91%, HCL Tech. down by 1.46% and Wipro down by 1.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 11.81 points or 0.18% to 6,548.18 and Germany’s DAX was down by 26.61 points or 0.17% to 15,179.52. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 12.51 points or 0.18% to 7,108.06.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday, even as dismal US jobs report with employers adding just 194,000 jobs last month against forecast of 500,000 jobs fuelled fears that the US central bank will begin tapering its massive bond purchases as early as next month. While, the US unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% better than the market expectations of 5.1%. Japanese shares gained as a weakening yen boosted exporters, while new corona-virus infections in the country fell to 553 on Sunday the lowest in almost a year added to economic reopening hopes. However, Chinese shares declined marginally after China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's top market regulator said it had fined food delivery giant Meituan with a 3.44 billion yuan ($534.3 million) fine for abusing its dominant position. Meanwhile, the South Korean market was closed for Hangul Day holiday and Taiwan market was closed for Double Tenth Day Celebration.