Last hour sell-off dragged Indian
equity bourses to their intraday low points on Wednesday, with Sensex &
Nifty ending lower by around 230 and 75 points, respectively. Indices made a
cautious start of the day, as State Bank of India's Economic Research
Department in its Ecowrap report sharply cut India's Gross Domestic Product
growth forecast to 5% for Fiscal Year 2019-20 from the earlier projection of
6%. Adding some worries, India's factory output growth, measured by the Index
of Industrial Production, contracted by 4.3% in September as compared to a
contraction 1.1% in August 2019 as all three broad-based sectors of capital
goods production, consumer durables, and infrastructure and construction goods
contracted. Volatility remained over the markets for the whole day, on weak
cues from global markets. Domestic sentiments remained hampered, amid a report
stating that venture investment activity in India slowed down both by value and
deal volumes in October to $3.312 billion in 91 transactions on account of poor
show by the realty sector. Separately, according to the latest survey released
by National Council of Applied Economic Research, business confidence of India
Inc declined to its lowest in six years in August-October. Traders overlooked
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that the Government of India's
top priority is to put the farmers' concerns and rural development on a larger
landscape. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 229.02 points or 0.57% to 40,116.06,
while the CNX Nifty was down by 73.00 points or 0.61% to 11,840.45.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated in
Congressional testimony that the central bank is likely to leave interest rates
unchanged in the near future. Powell told members of the Joint Economic
Committee that the Fed would leave rates at their current level unless there is
a material change in the economic outlook. However, upsides remained capped
after a report said US-China trade talks have hit a snag over Chinese purchases
of US agricultural products. President Trump earlier said China had agreed to
buy up to $50 billion in US soybeans, pork and other agricultural products
annually, but China is reluctant to put a numerical commitment in the text of a
potential agreement. On the economic front, partly reflecting a substantial
rebound in energy prices, the Labor Department released a report showing US
consumer prices rose by slightly more than anticipated in the month of October.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in
October after coming in unchanged in September. Street had expected consumer
prices to rise by 0.3 percent. The bigger than expected increase in consumer
prices came as energy prices spiked by 2.7 percent in October after tumbling by
1.4 percent in September. Gasoline prices led the way higher, surging up by 3.7
percent in October following the nosedive seen over the two previous months.
Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices edged up by 0.2 percent
in October after a 0.1 percent uptick in September. The uptick in core prices
matched street estimates.
Crude oil futures ended higher on
Wednesday, with prices recouping most of the losses they suffered over the past
trading sessions, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) said a global recession is unlikely. Oil was also supported by the
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony before the Congress that the
US economy would see a sustained expansion thanks to the impact of recent
interest rate cuts. Besides, in its Short-Term Energy Outlook report, the US
Energy Information Administration (EIA) raised its forecasts for US crude-oil
production and prices for this year and next. The EIA forecasts 2019 US crude
production of 12.29 million barrels a day, up 0.2% from the October forecast.
It also raised its 2020 US output forecast by 0.9% to 13.29 million barrels a
day. Benchmark crude oil futures for December rose 32 cents or 0.6 percent to
settle at $57.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January Brent
gained 31 cents or 0.5 percent to settle at $62.37 a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Falling
for third consecutive session, Indian rupee registered sharp losses against the
dollar on Wednesday as investors remained anxious over uncertainty in US-China
trade deal. Rupee sentiment remained fragile as State Bank of India's Economic
Research Department in its Ecowrap report sharply cut India's Gross Domestic
Product growth forecast to 5% for Fiscal Year 2019-20 from the earlier
projection of 6%. Some pessimism also came as India's factory output growth,
measured by the Index of Industrial Production, contracted by 4.3% in September
as compared to a contraction 1.1% in August 2019 as all three broad-based
sectors of capital goods production, consumer durables, and infrastructure and
construction goods contracted. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of
Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for October scheduled to be released today.
Finally, the rupee ended at 72.09, 62 paise weaker from its previous close of
71.47 on Monday.
The
FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net buyers in both equity and debt segments.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4891.17 crore against gross
selling of Rs 3311.19 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 779.02 crore with gross sales of Rs 435.66 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 27.05 crore against gross selling of Rs
7.80 crore.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Wednesday helped by a big jump in Walt Disney shares, while upside
remained in check by fresh uncertainty over US-China trade relations. Asian
markets are trading mostly in red on Thursday as investors awaited key Chinese
data for clues on how much the 16-month trade war between Beijing and
Washington has hit growth in the world's second-largest economy. Indian markets
ended lower with cut of over half a percent each on Wednesday, led by the last
hour sell-off in banking stocks. Today, the markets are likely to make
flat-to-positive start as market participants will be looking forward to
Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to be released later in the day. Investors will be
taking encouragement with SBI report showing that credit growth picked up rapid
pace beginning September - jumping by Rs 1.08 lakh crore - mainly helped by
housing, NBFC and lately MSME. Traders may take note of report that in perhaps
the first instance, the finance ministry has kicked off the exercise to
formulate the next budget by seeking suggestions on changes in direct and
indirect taxes from industry and trade associations. Some support may come with
report that India is the world's most open and investment friendly economy,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told business leaders of the BRICS group in
Brasalia, urging them to invest in the country and take advantage of its
limitless possibilities. However, weakness in Asian peers may weight on
domestic sentiments. There may some cautiousness with the government data
showing that India's retail inflation unexpectedly quickened to a 16-month high
at 4.62%, exceeding the central bank's medium-term target for the first time
since July 2018, as prices of kitchen staples such as onion and tomato
skyrocketed. Also, a private report indicated that the gloom surrounding the
Indian economy is likely to get worse in the months ahead. Meanwhile, markets
regulator SEBI came out with a detailed disclosure framework for entities
seeking listing of municipal debt securities issued on private placement basis.
There will be some buzz in the telecom stocks as the Department of Telecom
(DoT) issued notice to telecom operators to pay their revenue share dues within
three months as directed by the Supreme Court. The DoT has given option to
telecom operators to clear all the dues on self-assessment basis. There will be
some reaction in sugar stocks with repro that as the Rs 15,000 crore soft loan
scheme for sugar mills is moving at a snail's pace, the government has extended
the moratorium period for repayments by six more months. Now, the moratorium
period is one-and-a-half years.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,840.45
|
11,793.50
|
11,917.10
|
BSE Sensex
|
40,116.06
|
39,969.14
|
40,355.08
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
3,179.11
|
68.20
|
65.10
|
73.30
|
Tata Motors
|
339.26
|
170.60
|
168.00
|
174.60
|
SBI
|
326.76
|
306.80
|
302.10
|
315.05
|
ICICI Bank
|
242.73
|
485.75
|
480.20
|
494.40
|
GAIL (India)
|
193.72
|
123.85
|
121.43
|
128.08
|
JSW Steel's crude steel production declined 13 percent to 12.54 lakh tonne during October 2019.
M&M has showcased innovative Precision Farming solutions powered by advanced digital technologies for the very first time, at Agritechnica 2019.
TCS has expanded partnership with Phoenix Group to cover an additional 4.2 million policies.
Bharti Airtel has strengthened 4G services on the Chennai Metro rail route for the benefit of its customers.