Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with marginal losses on Thursday’s trading session. The start of the day was on a firm note, as sentiments got a boost after rating agency Icra retained its India’s previous growth forecast of 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal, citing revival in contact-intensive services and a pick-up in government and private expenditure. It said growth is expected to pick up to pre-Covid levels on the back of pent-up demand. Key indices traded in green in the first half of the trading session, supported with a report that Goods and services tax (GST) collections in September are likely to be about Rs 1.45 trillion, and the monthly average mop-up in FY23 could be around Rs 1.55 trillion.

However, markets failed to hold gains in the second half of the trading session and ended in red, amid a private report stated that India’s current account deficit (CAD) is expected to more than double sequentially to over $30 billion in the first quarter of financial year 2022-23 (Q1FY23) to rise above 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from $13.4 billion, or 1.5 per cent of GDP, in the previous quarter. Gains got trimmed, as traders got cautious amid a private report stating that India’s central bank is expected to increase its policy rate by half a point for the third time in a row as the currency’s plunge to a record low this month complicates the battle against inflation.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower as host of companies, including Swedish group H&M, warned about the effect of rising inflation and costs on their business, dampening the mood ahead of the release of expected red-hot German inflation data. Asian markets settled mostly down, even after Malaysia's producer price inflation eased for the third straight month in August to reach its lowest level in nearly one-and-a-half years. The figures from the Department of Statistics showed that producer prices climbed 6.8 percent year-over-year in August, slower than the 7.6 increase in July. Prices have been increasing since February 2021.

Back home, the street was taking a note of reports that the Centre is in “mission mode” to fill vacancies in government departments and ministries. The Department of Expenditure is currently following up with other wings of the government to expedite pending appointments. Regular follow-ups are being made to fill the vacant positions, so that the stated target of eliminating 1 million vacancies is met by December 2023, ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, capital markets regulator Sebi came out with guidelines pertaining to preferential issues and institutional placement of units by emerging investment vehicles -- REIT and InvIT.

On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical industry stocks were in focus, as aided by double-digit sales growth across therapies, except anti-infectives, Credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) continued to deliver healthy sales growth for the third consecutive month at 12.1% mom (month on month) in August 2022. This is despite the higher base impact (August 2021 growth at 18.1% yoy).

The BSE Sensex ended at 56409.96, down by 188.32 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 56314.05 and 57166.14. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.31%, while Small cap index up by 0.63%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.52%, Healthcare up by 1.37%, FMCG up by 0.96%, PSU up by 0.63% and Realty up by 0.40%, while Utilities down by 1.38%, Power down by 1.30%, IT down by 0.60%, Bankex down by 0.42% and TECK down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.51%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.16%, Tata Steel up by 1.68%, Sun Pharma up by 1.38% and Nestle up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 4.55%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.86%, Titan Co down by 1.69%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.49% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.36% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, aided by double-digit sales growth across therapies, except anti-infectives, Credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) continued to deliver healthy sales growth for the third consecutive month at 12.1% mom (month on month) in August 2022. This is despite the higher base impact (August 2021 growth at 18.1% yoy).

According to the report, COVID-19 influence had reduced drastically by July 2021 and hence most of the therapies had started following the normal seasonal trends. Most key therapies holding onto strong growth (yoy basis), such as cardiac (14.7%), gastro-intestinal (13.8%), derma (13.5%), respiratory (18.7%), CNS (15.1%), gynaec (18.6%) and anti-neoplastics (23.1%), reported a robust performance, except low single-digit growth in anti-Infectives (1.9%).

Ind-Ra further noted that despite the weak performance from February to May 2022, the acute therapy segment reported a healthy recovery in August 2022. Post normalisation of the high growth months of April 2021 (51.5% growth) and May 2021 (47.8%), led by the lockdown-related lower base last year and higher volume growth, the average IPM growth from June 2021 to January 2022 was healthy at 11.1% yoy, while the average IPM growth was at 4.7% during February to August 2022.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16818.10, down by 40.50 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 16788.60 and 17026.05. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.35%, Hindalco up by 2.90%, Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 2.88%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.63% and ITC up by 2.49%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 5.20%, Adani Enterprises down by 2.20%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.19%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.12% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.95% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 82.45 points or 1.18% to 6,922.94, France’s CAC decreased 82.12 points or 1.42% to 5,682.89 and Germany’s DAX was down by 200.43 points or 1.65% to 11,982.85.

Asian markets settled mostly down on Thursday, even as Wall Street rebounded overnight after the Bank of England stepped in to buy UK debt in order to calm the UK market chaos. Meanwhile concerns over hiking interest rates and a looming recession kept investors cautious. Chinese shares declined marginally ahead of China’s Golden Week holiday from 1st to 7th October. Although, the Chinese central bank PBoC warned against speculative trading and heavy one-way bets on the currency. Japanese shares gained, led by gains in technology and pharmaceutical shares.