Extending
previous session's northward journey, Indian equity benchmarks ended at their
fresh record closing levels on Friday. Both the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE
Nifty 50 settled above crucial 55,400 and 16,500 levels, respectively. Markets
made gap-up opening and continued to move higher, on the back of promising
inflation and industrial production data. Retail inflation eased to a
three-month low of 5.59 per cent in July, mainly due to softening food prices,
after holding above 6% for two months in a row. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)
based inflation was 6.26 per cent in June and 6.73 per cent in July 2020.
Besides, Industrial production surged by 13.6 per cent in June mainly due to a
low-base effect and good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors
but the output remained below the pre-pandemic level. In June 2021, the IIP
stood at 122.6 points compared to 107.9 point in the same month last year.
Sentiments on the street also remained optimistic with Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman's statement that the government is an active participant in the
recovery process and remains committed to reforms as is evident from a series
of tangible steps taken including the passing of seven critical bills related
to finance and corporate affairs in the monsoon session of parliament,
commitment towards disinvestment and privatization and using technology to
improve tax buoyancy. Markets extended rally in second half of trade to settle
near intraday highs, as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal assured the
industry that the government will protect its interests in free trade
agreements (FTAs) and these pacts would be finalised after holding detailed
discussions with all the stakeholders. The market sentiment also received a
boost after National Statistical Office (NSO) reported that manufacturing
sector, which constitutes 77.63 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production
(IIP), grew by 13 per cent in June this year due to a low-base effect and good
performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors but the output remained
below the pre-pandemic level. Besides, recognising the role of innovations to
strengthen India's response to COVID-19 crisis and preparedness for emerging
healthcare needs, the National Health Authority has signed a MoU with the
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 593.31
points or 1.08% to 55,437.29, while the CNX Nifty was up by 164.70 points or
1.01% to 16,529.10.
The US markets ended marginally
higher on Friday despite Dow and the S&P 500 both climbing to fresh record
highs early on in the session. Some cautiousness came as data showing a
significant drop in U.S. consumer sentiment, and concerns about the impact of
surging cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus on growth outweighed
buoyant earnings updates from some top notch companies. The University of
Michigan's preliminary report said U.S. consumer sentiment slumped to 70.2 in
August 2021, from 81.2 in the previous month and well below market expectations
of 81.2. It was the lowest reading since December 2011. Data from the Labor
Department showed U.S. import prices rose by 0.3 percent in July after surging
up by a revised 1.1 percent in June. Street had expected import prices to climb
by 0.6 percent in July compared to the 1 percent jump originally reported for
the previous month. Besides, the Labor Department said export prices shot up by
1.3 percent in July following a 1.2 percent leap in the previous month. Export
prices were expected to increase by 0.8 percent. Meanwhile, Walt Disney shares
closed higher despite paring substantial portion of early gains. The stock rose
on better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a strong growth of its customer
base. Salesforce.com moved higher on strong results. Microsoft, Netflix,
Comcast and WPP closed higher. DoorDash shares tumbled Friday morning after
reporting wider second-quarter loss, but rebounded as the session progressed to
close with a gain of about 3.5 percent. Boeing, American Express, JP Morgan
Chase and Goldman Sachs shed 1 to 1.4 percent.
Crude oil futures ended lower on
Friday with traders largely making cautious moves as they weighed the outlook
for energy demand amid lingering worries about spikes in the delta variant of
the coronavirus in several countries. The International Energy Agency (IEA)
said that energy demand is set to rise at a slower pace over the rest of 2021
because of the surge in infections from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. According
to a report released by Baker Hughes this afternoon, the combined oil and gas
rig count in the U.S. rose for a second week in a row, going up by nine to 500
in the week to August 13, the highest level since April 2020. Crude oil futures
for September fell $0.65 or 0.9 percent to settle $68.44 barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. October Brent crude dropped $1.22 or 1.7 percent to settle
at $70.09 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended flat on Friday
tracking foreign fund outflows. Traders got anxious with a private report that
monsoon rains in India in the week through Wednesday were below average for the
second straight week, the weather office said, raising concerns over production
of summer-sown crops such as cotton, soybean, corn and rice. However, promising
inflation and industrial production provided support to the domestic currency.
Retail inflation eased to a three-month low of 5.59 per cent in July, mainly
due to softening food prices, after holding above 6% for two months in a row.
Besides, Industrial production surged by 13.6 per cent in June mainly due to a
low-base effect and good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors
but the output remained below the pre-pandemic level. On the global front, the U.S.
dollar edged higher on Friday, on track for a second consecutive weekly gain
versus its major rivals, as investors weighed the possibility of the Federal
Reserve announcing its plans to reduce its stimulus in the coming weeks.
Finally, the rupee ended unchanged from its previous close of 74.25 on
Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net buyer in equity segment, while net seller in debt segment. In equity
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6768.43 crore against gross selling of Rs
6478.59 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 218.94
crore with gross sales of Rs 539.67 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 3.56 crore against gross selling of Rs 12.14 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Friday boosted by forecast-beating corporate earnings. Asian markets are
trading mostly in red on Monday after a raft of Chinese data showed a surprisingly
sharp slowdown in the engine of global growth, just as much of the world races
to stem the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 with vaccinations. Indian
markets scaled fresh all-time highs and closed at their highest closing levels
on Friday as bulls commanded D-Street's movement. Today, markets are likely to
make pessimistic start of holiday-shortened week following a muted trend in the
Asian peers, in the absence of any major domestic trigger. Equity markets would
remain closed on Thursday, August 19 for Muharram. On the macroeconomic front,
the WPI data will be released on August 16. Traders will be concerned with a
private report that it is highly unlikely that India will become a $5 trillion
economy by 2024-25 due to the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some
cautiousness will come as India recorded 33,221 new Covid-19 cases and 421
deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 32,225,175 and the death toll
to 431,674. Kerala reported 18,582 new infections, Maharashtra 4,797, followed
by Andhra Pradesh (1,506), Tamil Nadu (1,896), Karnataka (1,669), West Bengal
(673) and Delhi (53). However, some respite may come as the data released by
the commerce ministry showed that the country's exports surged 49.85 per cent
to $35.43 billion in July on account of healthy growth in petroleum,
engineering, and gems and jewellery segments, even as the trade deficit widened
to $10.97 billion during the month. Imports during the month also rose by about
63 per cent to $46.40 billion. Some support may also come as RBI data showed
country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $889 million to a lifetime
high of $621.464 billion in the week ended August 6, 2021. Meanwhile, India and
Russia have discussed expanding cooperation in the energy sector as New Delhi
looks at newer sources of oil and natural gas to diversify its import basket.
There will be some buzz in textile industry stocks as the government notified
the RoSCTL scheme for textiles exporters and said the duty credit scrips under
this support measure would be issued without insisting on realisation of the
export proceeds. Aviation stocks will be in focus as the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) said around 50.07 lakh domestic passengers travelled by
air in July, 61 per cent higher than the 31.13 lakh who travelled in June. It
also said 21.15 lakh people and 57.25 lakh had travelled within the country by
air in May and April, respectively. There will be some reaction in auto stocks
as Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched the National Automobile
Scrappage Policy, which he said would attract investments of about Rs 10,000
crore. He added the policy would also help in getting rid of unfit and
polluting vehicles in a scientific manner. Meanwhile, four companies will list
on bourses today, namely Devyani International, Windlas Biotech, Krsnaa
Diagnostics, and Exxaro Tiles.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
16,529.10
|
16,422.40
|
16,589.70
|
BSE
Sensex
|
55,437.29
|
55,065.93
|
55,648.23
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata Motors
|
349.22
|
307.25
|
303.04
|
311.49
|
Tata Steel
|
289.69
|
1461.65
|
1,409.34
|
1,495.29
|
State Bank of India
|
209.08
|
431.20
|
426.71
|
433.96
|
Bharti Airtel
|
206.90
|
637.05
|
623.84
|
644.54
|
Power Grid Corporation of India
|
200.82
|
184.75
|
183.14
|
186.84
|
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