In a volatile trade, Indian
equity benchmarks traded in green terrain throughout the session and ended with
marginal gains on Friday, driven by gains in Auto, Consumer Discretionary,
Consumer Durables and Power stocks amid positive cues from global markets.
Traders found some solace with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar's statement
that the Indian economy might end up with a lower contraction in the current
fiscal than projected by various organisations and also stressed that the next
stimulus should focus on short-gestation infrastructure projects. Some optimism
also came with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar expressed confidence that
money and resources will be in place for a viable and effective vaccination
system to fight COVID-19, even as he said it is quite premature to talk about
the cost for getting the vaccination. He also expressed hope that the corporate
world will also rise up to the occasion and make the vaccination part of their
CSR activity. However, gains remain capped as some cautiousness came with a
private report stated that with no signs of reprieve from the pandemic in near
future and economy yet to show major indications of a revival, India's consumer
confidence has declined by 0.3 percentage points in October 2020. Some concern
also came as UN expert said that between 150 million and 175 million more
people will fall into extreme poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Market
participants also took a note of Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that
if India has to grow, then it will have to look at global markets and become a
key exporting nation. He also said no country has become rich without
penetrating the US market and India must get into it in a big way. Finally, the
BSE Sensex rose 127.01 points or 0.31% to 40,685.50, while the CNX Nifty was up
by 33.90 points or 0.28% to 11,930.35.
The US markets ended choppy
trading session mostly higher on Friday amid a lack of concrete news out of
Washington regarding a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Traders have generally
remained optimistic that a bill will eventually be passed, although they may be
growing tired of waiting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has recently suggested
negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are making progress, but it
seems unlikely a bill will be passed before the elections early next month.
During the final presidential debate Thursday night, President Donald Trump
accused Pelosi of stalling a new relief package until after the elections for
political purposes. Trump also claimed that he could get reluctant Senate
Republicans to support a broader stimulus bill if an agreement is finally
reached. A lack of major US economic data may also have kept traders on the
sidelines following the release of upbeat jobless claims and existing home
sales data on Thursday. Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Intel (INTC)
weighed on the Dow, with the semiconductor giant plunging by 10.6 percent.
Intel fell sharply after reporting third quarter earnings that beat street
estimates but on weaker than expected revenues for its Data Center Group.
Credit card giant American Express (AXP) also showed notable move to the
downside after reporting third quarter earnings that missed expectations.
Crude oil futures settled in red
on Friday, on worries about energy demand due to the surge in coronavirus cases
in several countries and fresh lockdown measures. According to reports, the
spread of coronavirus cases in France is getting out of control. Italy is
seeing a surge in new cases, and several states across the U.S. have been
reporting increases in infections. Worries about excess supply in the market
due to a surge in oil exports from Libya and data showing another increase in
US oil-rig count also impacted oil prices. According to reports, crude output
from Libya has exceeded 500,000 barrels per day and it is expected to increase
further by the end of this month. A report from Baker Hughes said US oil-rig
count rose for a fifth straight week, surging up by 6 to a total of 211 this
week. Meanwhile, active US rig count went up by 5 to 287 in the week ending
October 23. Crude oil futures for December fell $0.79 or 1.9 percent to settle
at $39.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. December Brent crude
slipped $0.75 or 1.8 percent to settle at $41.71 a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Rupee ended weaker against dollar
on Friday on account of dollar demand from importers and banks. Traders were
worried with private report that with no signs of reprieve from the pandemic in
near future and economy yet to show major indications of a revival, India's
consumer confidence has declined by 0.3 percentage points in October 2020.
However downfall remain capped as Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar
expressed confidence that money and resources will be in place for a viable and
effective vaccination system to fight COVID-19, even as he said it is quite
premature to talk about the cost for getting the vaccination. He also expressed
hope that the corporate world will also rise up to the occasion and make the
vaccination part of their CSR activity. On the global front, pound edged up in
London trading on Friday, set for a weekly gain against the dollar and euro, as
Britain and the European Union entered intense negotiations to reach a
last-minute Brexit trade deal. Finally, the rupee ended at 73.61, 7 paise
weaker from its previous close of 73.54 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net buyer in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 8253.19 crore against gross selling of Rs 7027.73 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 927.65 crore with gross sales
of Rs 416.08 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs
5.84 crore against gross selling of Rs 13.25 crore.
The US markets closed mostly in
green on Friday after a lackluster session on negotiations between Republicans and
Democrats on a stimulus deal. Asian markets are trading mixed on Monday as new
coronavirus cases surge in the US as well in countries across Europe. Indian
markets ended higher Friday led by gains in auto, IT and metal stocks amid
positive global cues. Today, the start of the crucial F&O series expiry
week is likely to be a bit cautious tailing the mixed cues from Asian peers and
rising coronavirus cases in the US as well in European countries. Traders will
be concerned with the minutes of the monetary policy committee's latest meeting
showing that the second wave of COVID-19 remains a threat to the Indian
economy, and the central bank believes monetary policy needs to remain
accommodative despite inflationary pressures. Though, some support may come later
in the day as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) encourages investment in
sovereign bonds as part of liquidity measures. The RBI is making longer-tenor
sovereign bonds attractive again.
Traders may take note of report that industry body PHDCCI expects India's
GDP to contract by 7.9 percent in the current financial year and grow by 7.7
percent in 2021-22, assessing that the worst is over and the economy is on the
verge of a slow recovery. Besides, there are expectations that in the next
stimulus announcement, job creation is likely to be the focus of the government
as against the earlier plans to bring in job guarantee in the cities.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has issued operational guidelines for
implementation of the interest waiver scheme ahead of the hearing in the matter
in the apex court on November 2. There will be some buzz in the coal sector
stocks with report that India's coal import rose 11.6 per cent to 19.04 million
tonnes in September on account of a recovery in consumption by thermal power
plants and other industries as also helped by competitive prices in
international markets. Agriculture sector stocks will be focus as Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said his government is taking initiatives to strengthen
the agriculture sector in the country so that farmers do not have to face any
trouble. There will be some reaction in health sector stocks as government
think tank Niti Aayog is looking at many reform ideas in the health sector,
including aligning traditional and modern approaches for a larger good. There
will be some important earnings announcements too to keep the markets buzzing.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous
close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
11,930.35
|
11,901.21
|
11,967.01
|
BSE
Sensex
|
40,685.50
|
40,580.56
|
40,800.78
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous
close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance
(Rs)
|
(in
Lacs)
|
Tata
Motors
|
687.13
|
137.00
|
134.44
|
139.24
|
NTPC
|
462.60
|
86.25
|
84.96
|
87.06
|
State
Bank of India
|
327.08
|
202.80
|
201.04
|
205.09
|
Tata
Steel
|
285.89
|
423.45
|
415.10
|
428.90
|
ICICI
Bank
|
221.51
|
416.95
|
412.30
|
421.05
|
Tech Mahindra's wholly owned subsidiary -- Tech Mahindra (Americas), Inc. has agreed to acquire 6.03% equity shares in VitalTech Holdings, Inc.
GAIL (India) has handed over 18 four-wheel CNG Dry Waste Collection Vehicles worth Rs 1 crore to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
TCS has introduced a composite quality engineering service for blockchain applications called TCS Blockchain QE Services.
Coal India's fuel allocation under the exclusive e-auction scheme for the non-power sector rose almost six-fold to 13.44 MT in H1FY21.