Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with notable losses on Tuesday. After a negative start, markets remained weak during the trading session. Traders got cautious, as Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said that the entire revenue loss on account of reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 and Rs 5 a litre respectively will be borne by the Centre. Besides, industry body AIFI said that with the ripple down effect of declining automobile sales, the forging industry is facing the heat with a sharp decline in demand which has resulted in substantial production cuts.

In afternoon deals, markets managed to cut losses, as merchandise exports grew for the eleventh consecutive month to $35.65 billion, up 43 per cent on-year in October, as external demand continued to remain robust. The preliminary data released by the commerce and industry ministry showed growth being driven by higher demand for items, primarily engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewellery, as well as organic and inorganic chemicals, among other items. But, in the last hours of the trade, key indices witnessed a sharp fall to end lower.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green, as UK unemployment rate declined in the third quarter. The unemployment rate decreased 0.5 percentage points on the quarter to 4.3 percent, the labor force survey revealed. At the same time, the employment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 75.4 percent. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday, after Japan's tertiary activity grew in September. The data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that the tertiary activity index rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in September, after 1.1 percent decrease in August.

Back home, stocks related to steel industry remained in watch as Union Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh said the domestic steel consumption is expected to touch the 160-million tonne (MT) mark by the financial year 2024-25. During the financial year 2020-21, the total finished steel consumption in the country was at 96.2 MT, and the same is expected to reach about 160 MT by 2024-25, and about 250 MT by 2030-31.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60322.37, down by 396.34 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 60199.56 and 60802.79. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index up by 0.18%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.61%, Consumer Disc up by 0.95%, IT up by 0.44%, Capital Goods up by 0.44% and Industrials up by 0.28%, while Energy down by 2.12%, PSU down by 1.29%, Oil & Gas down by 1.22%, Bankex down by 1.00% and Realty down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 7.31%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.44%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.43%, Infosys up by 0.28% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.58%, SBI down by 2.31%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.20%, Indusind Bank down by 2.05% and NTPC down by 2.01% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, highlighting concrete steps taken by the Government of India to increase capital spending and drive an infrastructure and investment-led growth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the economy has been growing significantly post the second wave of pandemic and indicators such as imports, exports, PMI manufacturing, digital payments, etc. have already reached pre-pandemic levels.

Sitharaman also highlighted that with favourable international perception of India’s growth and in light of the structural, sectoral & financial, reforms undertaken by Government of India, global and domestic investors are upbeat about the investment attractiveness of the country. She added that states should leverage this opportunity to scale up investments and growth.

Besides, Finance Minister said that benefits of higher investment in infrastructure manifest in form of increased employment opportunities, access to market and materials, improved quality of life and empowerment of vulnerable sections. The Finance Minister said that she is looking forward to listening from states and understand their ideas and plans in the direction of investment enhancement.

The CNX Nifty ended at 17999.20, down by 110.25 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 17958.80 and 18132.65. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 7.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.44%, Tata Motors up by 2.69%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.14% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 3.23%, Reliance Industries down by 2.32%, Hindalco down by 2.26%, SBI down by 2.26% and Tata Consumer Products down by 2.25% were the top losers. (Provisional)
 
European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 14.80 points or 0.21% to 7,143.43 and Germany’s DAX increased 28.12 points or 0.17% to 16,176.76. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 3.52 points or 0.05% to 7,348.34.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday as a virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended with a pledge to improve cooperation. Meanwhile, investors are awaiting speeches of US Federal Reserve officials this week for further clues on interest rates and monetary policy. Hong Kong shares gained as authorities in several mainland provinces appear to have relaxed rules to spur home sales. Japanese shares ended tad higher, but erased most of its early gains amid lack of major market moving cues. However, Chinese shares declined as the country battled its biggest corona-virus outbreak caused by the highly transmissible delta variant.