Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with notable gains on Monday. After a positive start, markets soon turned negative, as some cautiousness came in with a private report that the excise duty cuts on diesel and petrol will cost Rs 45,000 crore and lead to a 0.3 percentage point widening in the Centre’s fiscal deficit. Besides, another private report stated that rapid strides in digital payments notwithstanding, the Indian economy will likely remain cash-dependent for many years to come, at least that’s what the automated teller machine makers and cash logistics companies are betting on.

Key indices remained lower in the first half of the trading session, as traders got cautious, amid reports that even though the retail inflation rate fell to a five-month low of 4.35 per cent in September, there was concern on the part of reputed agencies, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Nomura, and companies over inflationary pressure. The wholesale price inflation (WPI) rate came down in September to the level seen in April, but remained elevated at 10.7 per cent.

However, in the second half of the trading session, markets gained traction to end higher, taking support with State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara’s statement that India is ready to move into the next orbit of growth with the hugely successful implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program. In another positive development, industry chamber PHDCCI said that India's economic recovery gained momentum in recent months on the back of rapid progress in vaccinations, festive season and consequent improvement in consumer and industry sentiments.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green after hitting records last week on the back of positive economic data, strong quarterly earnings and major central banks holding borrowing costs at record lows. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday, after Taiwan's consumer price inflation eased in October, mainly due to indices for vegetables and fruits. The data released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics revealed that consumer prices rose 2.58 percent year-on-year in October, following 2.63 percent increase in September.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60545.61, up by 477.99 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 59779.19 and 60609.16. 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 1.20%, while Small cap index up by 0.78%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.29%, Consumer Durables up by 2.25%, Power up by 1.92%, Capital Goods up by 1.51% and Utilities up by 1.46%, while Healthcare down by 0.58% and Bankex down by 0.17% were the only losing indices on BSE.(Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Co up by 4.29%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.20%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.15%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.36% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.05%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 10.71%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.57%, SBI down by 1.38%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.75% and Asian Paints down by 0.66% were the top losers.(Provisional)

Meanwhile, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report showed that India's forex reserves have increased by $1.919 billion to $642.019 billion for the week ended October 29 on a healthy increase in the currency assets and value of gold.

The report further noted that the overall reserves had declined by $908 million to $640.1 billion at the end of the previous reporting week. According to the report, value of the gold reserves increased by $572 million to $39.012 billion in the reporting week.

Further, foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, increased by $1.363 billion to $578.462 billion for the reporting week. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

The CNX Nifty ended at 18068.55, up by 151.75 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 17836.10 and 18087.80. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Co up by 4.32%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 4.31%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.23%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.12% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.34%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 10.76%, Divi's Lab down by 5.98%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.53%, SBI down by 1.36% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.81% were the top losers.(Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 5.86 points or 0.08% to 7,309.82 and France’s CAC was up by 1.63 points or 0.02% to 7,042.42. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by 4.87 points or 0.03% to 16,049.49.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday even as investors stayed cautious ahead of inflation data from the United States and China later this week. Chinese shares ended marginally higher after exports data showed exports from China beat forecasts in October to deliver a record trade surplus. China's exports rose 27.1% in dollar terms last month from a year earlier, and exceeded expectations of a 22.8% gain. While, imports increased 20.6%, leaving a trade surplus of $84.54 billion. Though, Japanese shares ended lower despite the new government is considering an economic stimulus package worth more than 30 trillion yen ($265 billion) to revive the economy from the corona-virus pandemic.