Post Session: Quick Review

Wednesday’s trading session ended in red, with both Sensex and Nifty closing lower. The start of the day was in deep red, as OECD said India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the June quarter contracted 1.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter, when adjusted for seasonality, and was the second worst performance among the G20 countries - the first being China. Some cautiousness came in as a private report that investments by private equity and venture capital funds plummeted 80 per cent to $2.2 billion in August, a 19-month low.  Key indices remained weak during the entire day, as traders got cautious, amid a report stating that investors' wealth eroded by more than Rs 2.21 lakh crore in early trade on Wednesday, with the market witnessing a selling-off amid prospects of aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve to tackle high inflation, and sluggish global trends.

However, in the second half of the trading session, markets staged recovery, after India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased to 12.41% in the month of August 2022 as against 13.93% in July 2022. Inflation in August is primarily contributed by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals, chemicals & chemical products, electricity, food products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. Traders took a note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that many countries have evinced interest for bilateral trade in the rupee after the RBI announced a mechanism recently.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red as traders lean toward another 75-basis-point rate hike at next week's FOMC meeting. Asian markets settled lower on Wednesday, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data raised concerns the Fed will even more aggressively hike interest rate at its upcoming policy meeting next week and triggered heavy selling at several counters from across various sectors.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60346.97, down by 224.11 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 59417.12 and 60649.04. 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 0.10%, while Small cap index down by 0.01%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.91%, Bankex up by 1.28%, Basic Materials up by 1.18%, PSU up by 0.96% and Telecom up by 0.34%, while IT down by 3.28%, TECK down by 2.85%, Oil & Gas down by 0.90%, Capital Goods down by 0.83% and Energy down by 0.76% were the top losing indices on BSE.(Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.48%, Power Grid up by 2.58%, NTPC up by 2.57%, SBI up by 2.39% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.53%, TCS down by 3.36%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.61%, HCL Tech. down by 2.44% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.83% were the top losers.(Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased to 12.41% in the month of August 2022 as against 13.93% in July 2022. Inflation in August is primarily contributed by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals, chemicals & chemical products, electricity, food products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased by 0.62% to 178.6 (provisional) in August 2022 from 177.5 (provisional) for the month of July 2022. Prices of Nonfood Articles and Food Articles increased in August 2022 as compared to July 2022, while Prices of Minerals and Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas declined in August 2022 as compared to July 2022.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined by 4.83% to 157.6 (provisional) in August 2022 from 165.6 (provisional) for the month of July 2022. Prices of Electricity increased in August 2022 as compared to July, 2022, while Prices of Mineral Oils declined in August 2022 as compared to July 2022.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 0.07% to 143.2 (provisional) in August 2022 from 143.1 (provisional) for the month of July 2022. Meanwhile, for the month of June 2022 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 155.4 and 16.23% respectively.

The CNX Nifty ended at 18003.75, down by 66.30 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 17771.15 and 18091.55. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.46%, NTPC up by 2.96%, Power Grid up by 2.54%, SBI up by 2.46% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.50%, TCS down by 3.37%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.85%, HCL Tech. down by 2.45% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.88% were the top losers.(Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 55.41 points or 0.75% to 7,330.45 and Germany’s DAX was down by 43.84 points or 0.33% to 13,145.11. On the flip side, France’s CAC was up by 0.43 points or 0.01% to 6,246.12.

Asian markets settled lower on Wednesday tracking Wall Street's overnight plunge on hotter-than-expected inflation numbers for August that boosted expectations the US Federal Reserve would stay aggressive in raising rates. Chinese shares declined on escalating tensions between the US and China after reports suggested that the United States is considering options for a sanctions package against China to deter it from invading Taiwan. Moreover, Japanese shares declined after reports of the BoJ apparently preparing for a currency intervention amid sharp declines in the Japanese currency yen.