Last hour recovery helped Indian
equity markets to close with marginal gains on Wednesday. The start of the day
was on cautious note, amid a report stating that corporate India's merger and
acquisition activity in the July-September quarter witnessed a downtrend with
total deal value falling by more than half over the last year, largely owing to
a slump in economic activity and lack of big ticket deals. Key indices traded
near their neutral lines during the day, as India Ratings & Research
(Ind-Ra) believes that aggregate states' fiscal deficit slippage to 2.9% of GDP
in FY19 revised estimate (RE), from 2.6% in FY19 budget estimate (BE) (Ind-Ra
forecast: 2.8%) is mainly due to an expansionary fiscal policy followed by the
state governments. Despite flat trade, bourses managed to keep their heads
above water for the most part of the session, supported by a report that the
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is planning to
set up a single window system to support foreign investors, who want to invest
in India. The single-window system may have representatives from both the
Centre & state governments. The system will help in getting all relevant
approvals and clearances required by foreign investors. Some relief also came,
after the International Monetary Fund sees Indian economic growth rebounding to
around 7 per cent in the next financial year, supported by measures like
monetary policy stimulus & corporate income tax cuts. Finally, the BSE
Sensex gained 94.99 points or 0.24% to 39,058.83, while the CNX Nifty was up by
15.75 points or 0.14% to 11,604.10.
The US markets eked out modest
gains on Wednesday after traders digested the latest batch of earnings news
from big-name companies like Boeing (BA) and Caterpillar (CAT). Boeing and
Caterpillar both reported weaker than expected third quarter earnings, with
Caterpillar also cutting its full-year outlook due to weak demand for
construction and mining equipment. Disappointing guidance from Texas
Instruments (TXN) weighed on markets, as the chipmaker cited the impact of
ongoing uncertainty about trade. Thus far, of the 98 companies that have
reported third-quarter results in the S&P 500, 82.7% have delivered results
above street expectations, while 12.2% reported below street expectations.
Besides, overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, with a lack of major US
economic data keeping some traders on the sidelines. Traders were looking ahead
to the release of reports on durable goods orders, new home sales, and weekly
jobless claims. A lack of major developments on the Brexit and US-China trade
deal fronts also kept traders reluctant to make more significant moves.
Crude oil futures ended higher
with gain of over two and half percent on Wednesday after a US government
report showed an unexpected weekly decline in US crude supplies. The Energy
Information Administration (EIA) reported that US crude supplies fell for the
first time in six weeks, down 1.7 million barrels for the week ended October
18. Separately, supplies of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)
fell by 1 million barrels for the week. However, the American Petroleum
Institute on Tuesday reported a rise of 4.45 million barrels. Benchmark crude
oil futures for December rose $1.49 or 2.7 percent to settle at $55.97 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. December Brent surged $1.47 or 2.5 percent
to settle at $61.17 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee ended tad higher against dollar on Wednesday, owing to dollar sale by
exporters and banks. Traders took some support after the International Monetary
Fund sees Indian economic growth rebounding to around 7 per cent in the next
financial year, supported by measures like monetary policy stimulus &
corporate income tax cuts. However, gains remain capped as India Ratings &
Research (Ind-Ra) believes that aggregate states' fiscal deficit slippage to
2.9% of GDP in FY19 revised estimate (RE), from 2.6% in FY19 budget estimate
(BE) (Ind-Ra forecast: 2.8%) is mainly due to an expansionary fiscal policy
followed by the state governments. On the global front, pound firmed against
the dollar and euro on Wednesday as the European Union prepared to grant a
further delay to Brexit, averting the prospect of Britain departing the bloc
next week without a deal. Finally, the rupee ended at 70.91, 3 paise stronger
from its previous close of 70.94 on Tuesday.
The
FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net sellers in equity segment, while they
were net buyers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs
7588.20 crore against gross selling of Rs 8662.10 crore, while in the debt
segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1787.51 crore with gross sales of Rs
1469.15 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 2.64
crore against gross selling of Rs 2.32 crore.
The US markets ended marginally
higher on Wednesday after investors digested a slew of earnings reports from
some of America's largest companies. Asian markets are trading mostly in green
on Thursday, though the upside remained capped by concerns surrounding the
Sino-US trade war and Brexit uncertainties. Indian markets ended higher with
modest gains on Wednesday, led by gains in IT and auto stocks. Today, the
markets are likely to make slightly positive start following firm global cues.
Investors will also be looking ahead to the assembly election results for
Maharashtra and Haryana. Traders will be getting some encouragement as India
jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing
business ranking, riding high on the government's flagship Make in India scheme
and other reforms attracting foreign investment. The country also figured among
the top 10 performers on the list for the third time in a row. Some support
will also come with the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime
Minister Bibek Debroy's statement that India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
which is hovering around 5 percent is expected to inch up to 7 percent in the
next financial year. Though, some cautiousness may come with the Economist
Intelligence Unit's (EIU) statement that India is not likely to benefit from
the US-China trade tensions largely owing to existing policy barriers to large-scale
production, strict labour laws and difficult land-acquisition process. IT
stocks will be in limelight with Former NASSCOM President R Chandrashekhar's
statement that a hard Brexit would benefit India's information technology (IT)
services companies to strengthen partnerships in the UK with anticipated easing
of flow of high-skilled manpower. There will be some buzz in the financial
stocks with S&P Global Ratings' report that the Indian financial sector is
facing rising risk of contagion and failure of any large finance company will
adversely impact economic growth. There will be some reaction in aviation
stocks with a private report that a bitter fare war coupled with increase in
expenses will push several Indian airlines into losses in the second quarter.
Agriculture stocks will be in focus as the government increased the minimum
support price (MSP) for wheat by Rs 85 to Rs 1,925 a quintal and for pulses by
up to Rs 325 per quintal. There will be some important result reactions too, to
keep the markets in action.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous
close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
11,604.10
|
11,555.13
|
11,652.33
|
BSE
Sensex
|
39,058.83
|
38,884.38
|
39,214.97
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
2,967.23
|
51.20
|
49.10
|
53.40
|
Infosys
|
605.17
|
650.60
|
624.92
|
666.47
|
Tata Motors
|
502.94
|
132.65
|
128.67
|
135.22
|
SBIN
|
317.90
|
275.45
|
270.13
|
279.28
|
ICICI Bank
|
251.96
|
455.10
|
449.20
|
460.00
|
L&T's wholly owned subsidiary -- L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering has been awarded a mega project by HPCL.
Bharti Airtel's subsidiary -- Airtel Africa has partnered with Finablr to enable customers to transfer money from over 100 countries to their Airtel wallets in Africa.
ITC has launched the world's most expensive chocolate priced at Rs 4.3 lakh per kilogram under its Fabelle brand.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has received the EIR from the USFDA, for the Formulations Manufacturing facility at Shreveport, Louisiana, USA.