Sensex, Nifty end flat on Monday

Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a range-bound session throughout the day and ended flat on Monday owing to select profit-taking in Consumer Durables, Metal and Telecom shares. After making a cautious start, key gauges slipped into red and consolidated during the day as traders remained on sidelines ahead of corporate earnings reactions with TCS kick-in the Q1 result season on Thursday. Traders were concerned as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said India's forex reserves dropped $1.713 billion to $651.997 billion for the week ended June 28. Some cautiousness came with a private report that India will struggle to create enough jobs for its growing workforce over the next decade even if the economy grows at a rapid pace of 7 per cent, and it suggested the world’s most-populous nation will need more concerted steps to boost employment and skills. 

However, downside remained capped as traders found some support with report that foreign investors infused over Rs 7,900 crore in Indian equities in the first week of the month amid a healthy economic and earnings growth momentum. With this, total FPI investment in equities reached Rs 1.16 trillion so far this year. Some optimism also came with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Secretary, S Krishnan’s statement that India has the talent and deep expertise to become a global player in the semiconductor industry which is a vital sector for the country. Meanwhile, with an aim to resolve the pending issues and close the negotiations, India and the UK will hold the next round of talks this month for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) amid the new government taking charge in Britain. The India-UK talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher as traders digested the unexpected result of France's snap election and looked forward to upcoming Congressional testimony by Fed Chair Jerome Powell as well as the release of U.S. Asian markets settled mostly down on Monday as investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. and Chinese inflation figures as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's testimony due this week for additional clues on the Fed's monetary policy path.

Back home, on the sectoral front, coal sector stocks were in focus with a private report that India's coal import rose 5.3 per cent to 52.29 million tonnes (MT) in the first two months of the ongoing fiscal as against the year-ago period. There was some reaction in defence industry stocks as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said India’s annual defence production hit a record high of almost Rs 1.27 trillion in 2023-24 (FY24), up 16.7 per cent over the previous year’s figure of about Rs 1.09 trillion. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 36.22 points or 0.05% to 79,960.38, and the CNX Nifty was down by 3.30 points or 0.01% points to 24,320.55. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 80,067.46 and 79,731.83 respectively. There were 14 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.46%, Oil & Gas up by 1.00%, PSU up by 0.91%, Energy up by 0.81% and Capital Goods up by 0.65%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.46%, Metal down by 0.80%, Telecom down by 0.78%, Auto down by 0.63% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.27%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.55%, Nestle up by 1.14%, HCL Technologies up by 0.92% and Tata Motors up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.54%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.65%, Tata Steel down by 1.40%, Asian Paints down by 1.31% and JSW Steel down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Defence said that India has achieved the highest-ever growth in indigenous defence production in value terms during Financial Year (FY) 2023-24, on the back of successful implementation of the policies and initiatives of the government. As per the data received from all Defence Public Sector undertakings (DPSUs), other PSUs manufacturing defence items and private companies, the value of defence production in India has gone up to a record-high figure i.e., Rs 1,26,887 crore, reflecting a growth of 16.7% over the defence production of the previous financial year. The value of defence production in FY 2022-23 was Rs 1,08,684 crore. 

It said of the total value of production (VoP) in 2023-24, about 79.2% has been contributed by DPSUs/other PSUs and 20.8% by the private sector. The data shows that in terms of absolute value, both DPSUs/PSUs and private sector have recorded a steady growth in defence production. 

The ministry noted that the feat has been achieved due to the policy reforms/initiatives and ease of doing business brought in by the government in the last 10 years with focus on attaining self-reliance. The indigenisation efforts have been pursued aggressively on a sustained basis, that resulted in the highest ever VoP. Moreover, the spiralling defence exports have contributed tremendously to the overall growth in the indigenous defence production. Defence exports touched a record-high of Rs 21,083 crore in FY 2023-24, reflecting a growth of 32.5% over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 24,344.60 and 24,240.55. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 4.15%, ITC up by 2.34%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.25%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.33% and Wipro up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.33%, Divi's Lab down by 3.23%, BPCL down by 2.49%, Shriram Finance down by 1.95% and Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.56% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 17.65 points or 0.22% to 8,221.58, France’s CAC rose 14.68 points or 0.19% to 7,690.30 and Germany’s DAX gained 62.03 points or 0.34% to 18,537.48.

Asian markets settled mostly down on Monday with caution ahead to the release of US and Chinese inflation figures as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony due this week for additional clues on the Fed's monetary policy path. Meanwhile, a potential political deadlock in France after exit polls suggested that no party will likely win a clear majority in the parliamentary elections, also weighed on market sentiments. Chinese shares declined as investors braced for one of the country's biggest annual policy meetings. Japanese shares retreated as investors took profits following a multi-day rally, while data showed real wages in the country fell for a 26th straight month.