Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks snapped a two-day losing streak on Friday, tracking positive cues from Wall Street overnight following Nvidia’s upbeat results and optimistic outlook. Investors remained focused on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech later in the day, which could offer further clues on the trajectory of interest rates. However, traders remained cautious ahead of the release of India’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for July, also due later in the day.  

Both the Sensex and Nifty ended higher, supported by strong buying in heavyweight IT stocks. However, the Nifty came under some selling pressure during the afternoon session as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers. On Thursday, FIIs offloaded securities worth Rs 298.26 crore.

Some of the important factors in trade:

S&P retains India’s sovereign rating at ‘BBB’ with stable outlook: Traders took support as S&P Global Ratings retained India’s sovereign rating at ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook, and said that the country is a dynamic and fast-growing economy supported by policy stability and high infrastructure investment.

India Inc's revenue growth likely to moderate to 13-15% in Q2FY27: Sentiments remained upbeat as Domestic rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that India Inc's revenue growth is likely to moderate to 13-15 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2026-27 (Q2FY27) as compared with the 21.3 per cent growth recorded in Q1FY27. 

India-Canada economic cooperation gains importance: Some support came in markets as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said closer economic cooperation between India and Canada has assumed greater significance amid a rapidly changing global landscape marked by geopolitical uncertainty. 

On the global front: European markets were trading in green, led by a rally in technology shares. Asian markets ended mixed, as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at Jackson Hole.

The BSE Sensex ended at 77264.51, up by 330.92 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 76988.22 and 77357.97. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.32%, TECK up by 2.15%, Bankex up by 1.01%, Metal up by 0.71% and Healthcare up by 0.55%, while Realty down by 0.29%, Oil & Gas down by 0.28%, Consumer Durables down by 0.26%, Power down by 0.24% and FMCG down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 4.09%, Infosys up by 3.34%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.18%, HCL Technologies up by 2.68% and Titan Company up by 1.17%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.30%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.18%, Asian Paints down by 1.06%, ITC down by 0.52% and Maruti Suzuki India down by 0.32% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, domestic credit rating agency India Ratings has revised its FY27 estimate for bank credit growth to 15 per cent from the earlier projection of 13 per cent, but flagged an impact on profitability as lenders set aside money for transitioning to the expected credit loss system of provisioning. The agency said the upward review on the credit costs front is driven by expectations of a higher proportion of lending to corporates towards working capital requirements, especially on the back of benefits on cash reserve ratio (CRR) on the deposits raised from the diaspora. 

It noted tighter bond yields will also make bank borrowings more attractive for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). The revised projection on credit growth is lower than the current 19.3 per cent year-on-year growth as of July 31. Further, it said banks are likely to face some profitability challenges despite the higher credit growth and the proportion of dud assets being at all-time lows. 

It stated banks’ credit costs are expected to increase to 0.74 per cent in FY27 from 0.65 per cent in the previous fiscal due to additional provisioning requirements under the Expected Credit Loss (ECL) framework. Ankit Jain, associate director, India Ratings, said the transition to ECL norms is likely to weigh on the banking sector through a one-time impact on the balance sheet and higher steady-state credit costs, driven by increased Stage 1 and Stage 2 provisioning requirements.

The CNX Nifty ended at 24175.65, up by 84.80 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 24076.85 and 24188.30. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 4.16%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.53%, Infosys up by 2.99%, HCL Technologies up by 2.66% and Wipro up by 2.58%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.40%, Shriram Finance down by 1.28%, ITC down by 1.12%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.09% and Asian Paints down by 0.85% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; France’s CAC rose 84.73 points or 1.02% to 8,404.60, Germany’s DAX gained 171.36 points or 0.65% to 26,538.60, and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.35 points or 0.23% to 10,816.89.

Asian market ended mostly lower on Friday, as market participants took a cautious stance ahead US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, which could provide some cues on Fed’s interest rate trajectory. Investor sentiments dulled after President Donald Trump hinted that Chinese banks could face penalties as part of Washington's pressure campaign against Tehran, following Scott Bessent warning that financial networks facilitating Iranian oil revenues are in the crosshairs. South Korea's KOSPI plunged the most among Asian indices after the Bank of Korea delivered a consecutive 25-basis-point interest rate hike to 3.00%.