Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks recovered from an early slide in last leg of trade and ended flat on Thursday. After opening in green, markets surrendered their gains. The volatility occurred during the day as IT major - TCS is set to announce its first quarter results for the financial year 2024-2025 later in a day. The weekly Nifty futures & options expiry also weighed on the sentiment. The Broader indices displayed positive performance in a day. 

Bourses made positive start tracking gains in global peers. Traders took encouragement as labour ministry said retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 3.86 per cent in May compared to 4.42 per cent in the same month a year ago. Some optimism came as a State Bank of India (SBI) report showed that between FY14 and FY23, India generated 125 million jobs, which is 4.3 times more than the preceding decadal period of FY04-FY14. However, markets failed to protect their gains and turn negative in early trade amid sharp selling by investors. Some concern also came as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao flagged concerns over quality of disclosures made by some NBFCs and urged the auditing community to ensure that entities provide appropriate qualitative information to depositors as well as other stakeholders. In afternoon session, markets added more losses and touch day’s low points, as traders sold out their riskier assets. However, in late afternoon session, indices pared most of their losses to trade near neutral lines. Traders were braced for Q1 result season.  

On the global front, European markets were trading higher as soft inflation data left the door open for another European Central Bank rate cut in September. All Asian markets ended higher after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank will make interest rate decisions 'when and as' they are needed, regardless of political factors. Amid rising hopes for a September rate cut, investors awaited the release of U.S. CPI report later in the day for further direction. Back home, CareEdge Ratings in its latest report has said that commercial vehicle sales volume is expected to decline 3-6 per cent in the current fiscal (FY25) due to a slump in demand.

The BSE Sensex ended at 79,897.34, down by 27.43 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 79,464.38 and 80,170.09. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.34%, while Small cap index up by 0.57%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.68%, Energy up by 1.20%, PSU up by 1.17%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78% and FMCG was up by 0.39%, while Realty down by 1.41%, Auto down by 0.43%, Power down by 0.39%, Healthcare down by 0.35% and Utilities was down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.60%, Tata Motors up by 1.50%, Asian Paints up by 0.93%, SBI up by 0.88% and Titan Company up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.24%, NTPC down by 1.14%, Sun Pharma down by 0.85% and Nestle down by 0.81% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Labour ministry has said that retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 3.86 per cent in May 2024 compared to 4.42 per cent in the same month a year ago.  The All-India CPI-IW for May 2024 increased by 0.5 points and stood at 139.9 points. It was 139.4 points in April 2024. 

It further stated the food and beverages group increased to 145.2 points in May from 143.4 points in April this year. The fuel & light segment dipped to 149.5 points in May from 152.8 points in April 2024.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.

The CNX Nifty ended at 24,315.95, down by 8.50 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 24,193.75 and 24,402.65. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.21%, BPCL up by 2.08%, Coal India up by 1.90%, ITC up by 1.59% and Tata Motors up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 1.69%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.24%, Divi's Lab down by 1.17% and NTPC down by 1.13% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 27.32 points or 0.33% to 8,220.83, France’s CAC rose 40.41 points or 0.53% to 7,613.96 and Germany’s DAX was up by 37.03 points or 0.2% to 18,444.25. 

Asian markets settled higher on Thursday as investors are awaiting the release of US CPI report later in the day to gauge on Federal Reserve interest rate cut timeline. Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the Fed will make interest rate decisions ‘when and as’ they are needed, pushing back on a suggestion that a September rate cut could be seen as a political act ahead of the fall presidential election. Chinese shares gained ahead of upcoming Chinese Communist Party's Third Plenum where economic policies and reforms are expected to be discussed, and the release of key economic indicators by the National Bureau of Statistics. Also, China's securities regulator announced more curbs on short-selling and pledged tighter scrutiny of computer-driven program trading in its latest effort to bolster a flagging stock market. Seoul shares rose as the Bank of Korea kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.5% for 12th straight time and signaled a dovish shift in its policy stance.