Indian equity
benchmarks ended Friday's trading session with gains, led by gains in ICICI
Bank, ITC, SBI and HCL Technologies. Benchmarks made positive start, as traders
took some support with the Ministry of External Affairs stating that India has
been in touch with the various countries regarding the possibility of import of
vaccines to supplement domestic production. Traders also took a note of Deputy
Governor T Rabi Sankar's statement that the RBI is working on phased
introduction of its own digital currency and is mulling pilot projects in
wholesale and retail segments in the near future. However, key indices gave up
opening gains and turned volatile, as traders got anxious with Former World
Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu stating that India's wholesale price-based
inflation is at a 30-year high, leading to a very alarming situation for the
country. He, however, doesn't see any risk of hyperinflation, but cautioned
that if retail inflation follows wholesale prices, it might lead to
inflationary crisis. Benchmarks bounced back from day's low and were trading
firmly in green in afternoon deals, as India has significantly improved its
ranking in terms of trade facilitation due to various reforms undertaken by
various departments especially customs under the Central Board of Indirect
Taxes (CBIC). India has scored 90.32 per cent in United Nation's Economic and
Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) latest Global Survey on Digital
and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. Traders found support with private report
that employees in India will see bigger pay rises next fiscal year as firms
expect to emerge from lockdowns and the supply of applicants lags demand.
Meanwhile, Minister for Road Transport & Highway -- Nitin Gadkari said the
Road Transport and Highways ministry has constructed 13,327 km of National
Highways in 2020-21 (FY21), which works out to about 37 km per day. Gadkari
said to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic effect, his ministry took initiatives under
Atmanirbhar Bharat and provided several COVID-19 relief measures to
contractors, concessionaires and consultants, including extension of time for
3-9 months. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 138.59 points or 0.26% to 52,975.80,
while the CNX Nifty was up by 32.00 points or 0.20% to 15,856.05.
The US markets extended their
gains and ended higher on Friday. With the continued advance, the major
averages all reached new record closing highs. The four-day winning streak
represents a remarkable turnaround for the markets following the sell-off on
Monday, which dragged the major averages down to their lowest closing levels in
almost a month. The continued strength on Wall Street partly reflected a
positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from several big-name companies.
Shares of Snap (SNAP) soared after the Snapchat parent reported an unexpected
second quarter profit on better than expected revenues. Social media giant
Twitter (TWTR) also moved notably higher after reporting second quarter results
that exceeded analyst estimates and providing upbeat revenue guidance. Shares
of American Express (AXP) also moved to the upside after the financial services
company reported second quarter results that beat expectations on both the top
and bottom lines. On the other hand, shares of Intel (INTC) came under pressure
after the semiconductor giant reported better than expected second quarter
results but provided disappointing guidance. Housing stocks moved sharply
higher over the course of the session, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector
Index up by 2.3 percent. Significant strength also emerged among utilities
stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent advance by the Dow Jones Utilities
Average. Networking, software and pharmaceutical stocks also saw notable
strength on the day, while oil service stocks fell sharply despite amid a
modest increase by the price of crude oil. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's
monetary policy decision is likely to be in focus next week, with traders
paying close attention to any comments regarding the central bank's asset
purchase program.
Extending gains to a fourth
straight session, crude oil futures settled slightly higher on Friday, with
traders betting on hopes demand for energy will see a significant increase in
coming months, driven by the continued fall in oil stocks and rising rates of
vaccinations. According to a report from Baker Hughes, the number of oil and
gas rigs in the US rose by 7 this week to 491, which is up 240 from the same
time last year The US oil rig count rose by 7 this week to 387, while the
number of gas rigs stayed unchanged at 104. Meanwhile, the Energy Information
Administration estimates oil production in the US for the week ending July 16
remained the same at an average of 11.4 million barrels per day, still well
below the 13.1 million barrels per day seen in February 2020. Crude oil futures
for September rose $0.16 or about 0.2 percent to settle at $72.07 barrel on the
New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent crude surged $0.22 or 0.31
percent to settle at $74.01 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended higher for
third straight session against dollar on Friday due to fresh selling of the
American currency by banks and exporters. The rupee also derived its strength
from strong gains in the local equity markets. Rupee got support as India has
significantly improved its ranking in terms of trade facilitation due to
various reforms undertaken by various departments especially customs under the
Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC). However, upside remain capped as former
world bank chief economist Kaushik Basu stated that India's wholesale
price-based inflation is at a 30-year high, leading to a very alarming
situation for the country. On the global front, sterling fell on Friday despite
better-than-expected retail sales data as investors weighed up the risk of a
further rise in COVID-19 cases and the impact of self-isolation on Britain's
food and travel industries. Finally, the rupee ended 74.40, stronger by 6 paise
from its previous close of 74.46 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 12829.31 crore against gross selling of Rs
8519.27 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 490.16
crore with gross sales of Rs 1357.83 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 28.61crore against gross selling of Rs 42.95 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Friday after a rocky week in which investors fretted over the Delta coronavirus
variant and cheered an economic recovery. Asian markets are trading mostly in
red on Monday as super-strong US corporate earnings sucked funds out of
emerging markets and into Wall Street, where records were falling almost daily.
Indian markets ended Friday's volatile session higher led by gains in banking
and financial stocks. Today, the start of new week is likely to be pessimistic
following a muted trend in the Asian peers. Besides, there might be some
volatility in the markets due to the scheduled derivatives expiry of July month
contracts. Fears of a third wave and the spread of Delta and Delta plus variant
may dampen sentiments in markets. Also, investors will keep a close watch on
the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting scheduled for July 27-28.
There will be some cautiousness as the provisional commerce ministry data showed
that the country's exports grew 45.13 per cent to $22.48 billion during July
1-21 on account of healthy growth in sectors such as gems and jewellery,
petroleum and engineering. Imports also rose 64.82 per cent to $31.77 billion
in the said period, leaving a trade deficit of $9.29 billion. Also, traders
will be concerned as the health ministry India reported 39,742 new Covid-19
cases in the last 24 hours. The Covid-19 death toll rose by 535 deaths in the
last 24 hours, with the total reaching 420,551. However, some respite may come
later in the day as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal expressed
confidence that India will continue to attract high foreign direct investment
(FDIs) in the current financial year. Traders may take note of report that Niti
Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said digitisation has provided an impetus to the startup
ecosystem in India and IPOs will drive the country's startup revolution. He
said IPOs will drive our start-up revolution. Indian start-ups will raise money
in Indian markets from the Indian public. This is truly Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Digitization has provided an impetus to the start-up ecosystem in India.
Besides, RBI data showed the country's foreign exchange reserves rose by $835
million to touch a record high of $612.73 billion in the week ended July 16,
2021. Telecom stocks will be in focus as the Supreme Court said the Adjusted
Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues payable by telecom majors, including Vodafone
Idea and Bharti Airtel, cannot be a subject matter of any future litigation. A
bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao stated this while dismissing the plea
of telcos seeking rectification of alleged errors in the calculation of AGR.
There will be lots of important earnings announcements too, to keep the markets
in action.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
15,856.05
|
15,783.04
|
15,914.44
|
BSE
Sensex
|
52,975.80
|
52,714.82
|
53,175.75
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ITC
|
445.26
|
212.40
|
208.06
|
215.16
|
Tata Motors
|
334.35
|
295.55
|
293.06
|
299.96
|
Bharti Airtel
|
325.88
|
548.30
|
533.81
|
561.71
|
ICICI Bank
|
192.98
|
676.65
|
658.99
|
686.09
|
State Bank of India
|
177.04
|
428.90
|
422.29
|
432.74
|
Hero MotoCorp has launched an updated version of its Maestro Edge 125 scooter model with prices starting from Rs 72,250 (ex-showroom Delhi).
UltraTech Cement has prepaid its long term loans amounting to Rs 5,000 crore.
IOC is planning to build India's first green hydrogen plant at its Mathura refinery.
JSW Steel has reported consolidated net profit attributed to the owners at Rs 5904 crore for Q1FY22 as against net loss of Rs 561 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.