Markets end lower for third straight session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their downside momentum for the third consecutive session and ended with losses of over half percent on Monday, weighed down by a disappointing set of Q1 earnings, uncertainty related to the India-US trade deal and continued FII outflows. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

FIIs remain net sellers in Indian equities for five days on a row: Foreign portfolio investors (FIIs) stayed net sellers of Indian shares for the fifth consecutive day on Friday as they sold stocks worth Rs 1,979.96 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

Rupee falls against US dollar: Indian rupee pared initial gains and settled for the day lower against the US dollar, as month-end dollar demand from importers continued to keep the American unit well bid. Investors traded cautiously awaiting the outcome of India-US trade talks ahead of the August 1 deadline.

Indian economy to grow over 6.5% in current fiscal without hurdles: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Nagesh Kumar has said that the Indian economy is growing at a robust pace and will not face any challenge in achieving a growth rate upwards of 6.5% in the current financial year.

Chemicals stocks in focus: CHEMEXCIL has said that the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK will help boost the country's chemical exports and domestic manufacturing as a number of product categories from the segment will enjoy duty-free access in Britain.

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green as trade war concerns eased after the U.S. and the European Union agreed on a trade deal. Asian markets settled mostly higher as underlying sentiment remained supported somewhat as the EU and the U.S. struck a last-minute trade agreement and reports suggested the U.S. and China are likely to extend their tariff truce for another 90 days. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 572.07 points or 0.70% to 80,891.02 and the CNX Nifty was down by 156.10 points or 0.63% to 24,680.90.  

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 81,557.41 and 80,776.44 respectively. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.73%, while Small cap index was down by 1.31%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.16% and FMCG up by 0.12%, while Realty down by 4.11%, Telecom down by 1.56%, Capital Goods down by 1.49%, Industrials down by 1.40% and Bankex down by 1.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.23%, Asian Paints up by 1.00%, ICICI Bank up by 0.82%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.43% and HDFC Bank up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 7.50%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.35%, Titan Company down by 2.17% and TCS down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Nagesh Kumar has said that the Indian economy is growing at a robust pace and will not face any challenge in achieving a growth rate upwards of 6.5% in the current financial year. Moreover, he said that the Indian economy, among all economies, continues to remain a bright spot for the world.

He stated ‘Actually, more than a third of global economies are under the debt crisis...The industrialised economies are facing a lot of pressure, high inflation and the slowdown of economic growth.’ But because the Indian economy is more driven by domestic consumption and domestic investment, and less by export or trade, he said India continues to grow very robustly.

He said ‘I do not see any challenges in the Indian economy achieving upwards of 6.5% kind of growth in the current year and the following year. And, you know, hopefully this kind of growth momentum will continue for coming years but also be over time strengthened to 7-7.5%.’ The Indian economy is estimated to have grown at 6.5% in the previous fiscal year. As per the Reserve Bank of India’s projections, the country’s economy will expand at the same rate in the current fiscal year as well.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 24,889.20 and 24,646.60. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Shriram Finance up by 2.62%, Cipla up by 2.45%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.45%, Asian Paints up by 1.00% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 7.34%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.58%, Indusind Bank down by 2.93%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.48% and Titan Company down by 2.25% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX gained 72.4 points or 0.3% to 24,289.90 and France’s CAC rose 41.22 points or 0.53% to 7,875.80, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 7.56 points or 0.08% to 9,112.75.