Indian equity
benchmarks trimmed all gains ahead of the closing bell on Friday to end the day
flat with negative bias, tracking losses in Metal, Energy and Banking stocks.
Benchmarks made positive start and managed to keep heads in green terrain, as
traders took some support with India Ratings and Research's statement that
outbound shipments from India, which have been languishing for quite some time,
can benefit from the favourable trade growth outlook of 2021 and consolidate
further from the level achieved in the first quarter of this fiscal. Some
optimism also came in as Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian said headline
inflation will come down under the 6 percent mark in July itself but will stay at
an elevated level of over 5 percent for some time. Sentiments remained positive
with Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra's
statement that the real estate sector which has been stressed for quite some
time now has started showing signs of improvement since the first quarter of
the current fiscal (Q1FY22) and its contribution to the country's Gross
domestic product (GDP) is expected to reach 10 percent by 2025 from the current
7 percent. Markets added some more points in late afternoon session taking
support from private report stated that the easing of restrictions on economic
activity coupled with the increasing focus on ramping up operations and sales
by businesses is having a positive impact on the hiring of freshers. However,
key indices erased gains in the last 30 minutes of trade taking cues from weak
European markets. Some concern also came as 3 southern states report spike in
new infections. Kerala reported more than 22,000 fresh Covid-19 cases for the
third day straight: the spike prompting the state to announce a weekend
lockdown. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu recorded a rise in new infections on
Thursday as well, taking India's daily case count to nearly 45,000, the highest
in 22 days. Meanwhile, Parliament informed that around 1.09 crore MSME
borrowers have been provided with guarantee support of Rs 1.65 lakh crore under
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). Finally, the BSE Sensex fell
66.23 points or 0.13% to 52,586.84, while the CNX Nifty was down by 15.40
points or 0.10% to 15,763.05.
The US markets ended
significantly lower on Friday as a steep drop from Amazon (AMZN) weighed on the
markets, with the online retail giant plunging by 7.6 percent to its lowest
closing level in well over a month. The nosedive by Amazon came after the
company reported second quarter earnings that beat expectations, but its
revenues missed estimates for the first time since the third quarter of 2018.
Shares of Pinterest (PINS) also moved sharply lower after the image-sharing website
operator reported better than expected second quarter earnings and revenues but
a quarterly decline in monthly average users. Caterpillar (CAT), Exxon Mobil
(XOM) and Chevron (CVX) also moved to the downside despite reporting quarterly
results that exceeded analyst estimates. On the other hand, Procter &
Gamble (PG) posted a strong gain after reporting better than expected fiscal
fourth quarter results, although the consumer products giant also warned about
the impact of higher input costs. On the economic data front, the Commerce
Department released a report unexpectedly showing a slight increase in personal
income in the month of June. The report showed personal income inched up by 0.1
percent in June after tumbling by a revised 2.2 percent in May. The uptick
surprised market participants, who had expected personal income to dip by 0.3
percent compared to the 2.0 percent slump originally reported for the previous
month. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said personal spending jumped by 1.0
percent in June after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in May. Street had
expected personal spending to increase by 0.7 percent compared to the unchanged
reading originally reported for the previous month. The report also showed the
annual rate of core consumer price growth crept up to 3.5 percent in June from
3.4 percent in May.
Crude oil futures settled
modestly higher on Friday, as tight US crude supplies helped lift prices up for
a fourth month in a row. Also, there are hopes that energy demand will grow faster
than supply despite resurgence in coronavirus infections across the globe. A
report from Baker Hughes today said the number of active US rigs drilling for
oil dropped by two to 385 this week, falling for the first time after four
weeks. The total active US rig count, which includes those drilling for natural
gas, declined by 3 to 488. Although, coronavirus cases are rising in U.S., Asia
and parts of Europe. Crude oil futures for September rose 33 cents or nearly
0.5 percent to settle $73.95 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
September Brent crude gained 28 cents or 0.4 percent to settle at $76.33 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended considerably
lower against the US dollar on Friday, on increased demand for the greenback
from importers and banks. Traders seem to have overlooked Chief Economic
Advisor K V Subramanian's statement that headline inflation will come down
under the 6 percent mark in July itself but will stay at an elevated level of
over 5 percent for some time. Such an outcome will get the price rise back into
the upper-end of the target band given to RBI, he said, adding that consumer
price inflation had breached the mark for three consecutive quarters last
fiscal because of supply side issues like challenges in movement of goods. On
the global front, dollar languished near a one-month low on Friday and was set
for its worst weekly performance since May as dovish remarks by the U.S.
Federal Reserve together with underwhelming economic data took the steam out of
a month-long rally. Finally, the rupee ended 74.42, weaker by 13 paise from its
previous close of 74.29 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in equity segment, while net buyers in debt segment. In equity
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9725.77 crore against gross selling of Rs
9908.74 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 216.20
crore with gross sales of Rs 186.71 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 3.73 crore against gross selling of Rs 12.21 crore.
The US markets ended in red on
Friday as Amazon.com shares dropped after the company forecast lower sales
growth. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday as upbeat economic
data in the United States and Europe and solid corporate earnings put a floor
under their markets, even though Beijing's regulatory crackdown fans fears
about China's economy. Indian markets gave up early gains to end on a flat note
Friday, tracking weak cues from Asia and Europe. Today, the start of new week
as well as month is likely to be firm tracking Asian peers. Investors will be
closely watching the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee meeting
scheduled for later this week. Also, the Manufacturing PMI is slated to be out
later in the day. Traders will be taking encouragement as the goods and
services tax (GST) collection recovered to a three-month high in July,
exceeding the Rs 1.1 trillion-mark, as economic activity resumed after most
states eased Covid-19 restrictions. Some support will come as the government
data showed that the output of eight core sectors grew 8.9 per cent in June,
mainly due to a low base effect and uptick in production of natural gas, steel,
coal and electricity. The eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil,
natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity had
contracted by 12.4 per cent in June 2020 due to the lockdown restrictions
imposed to control the spread of coronavirus infections. However, there may be
some cautiousness as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out a net Rs
6,105 crore from the Indian capital markets so far in the ongoing financial
year amid the pandemic and resultant restrictions in many parts of the country.
Meanwhile, data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed
that the central government's fiscal deficit stood at Rs 2.74 trillion or 18.2
per cent of the full year's Budget estimate at the end of June. The fiscal
deficit at the end of June 2020 was 83.2 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE)
of 2020-2 at Rs 6.62 trillion, after a fall in tax receipts due to pandemic
lockdown that led to the worst recession in seven decades. There will be some
buzz in the power stocks with power ministry data showing that India's power
consumption grew nearly 12 per cent in July to 125.51 billion units (BU) and
returned to pre-pandemic level mainly due to easing of lockdown curbs and
delayed monsoon. Auto stocks will be in limelight reacting to their monthly
sales numbers. There will be some
reaction in insurance industry stocks as the government said there has been no
noticeable change in insurance coverage in the country during the COVID-19
pandemic. IPO rush continues for domestic investors with four fresh offerings
opening for subscription this week. Windlas Biotech, Krsnaa Diagnostics, Exxaro
Tiles, and Devyani Internation will all open for subscription on August 4.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
15,763.05
|
15,717.66
|
15,835.61
|
BSE
Sensex
|
52,586.84
|
52,443.75
|
52,820.07
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
|
358.93
|
773.95
|
718.81
|
806.41
|
State Bank of India
|
351.96
|
431.80
|
426.86
|
440.56
|
Tata Motors
|
305.89
|
293.95
|
291.46
|
298.21
|
Indian Oil Corporation
|
262.45
|
103.15
|
101.94
|
105.34
|
Power Grid Corporation of India
|
256.06
|
171.15
|
168.50
|
173.50
|
NTPC's wholly owned subsidiary -- NTPC Renewable Energy has invited a domestic tender to set up India's first Green Hydrogen Fuelling Station in Leh, Ladakh.
Infosys has declared the renewal of its strategic collaboration with SPS to implement its Cobalt-powered infrastructure as a service solution in collaboration with Hitachi Vantara.
Tech Mahindra has reported 39.18% rise in consolidated net profit attributed to the owners at Rs 1353.20 crore for Q1FY22 as compared to net profit of Rs 972.30 crore for Q1FY21.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has reported consolidated net profit after taxes, share of profit of associates and joint ventures and non-controlling interests at Rs 1444.17 crore for Q1FY22 as compared to net loss of Rs 1655.60 crore for Q1FY21.