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NSE Intra-day chart (29 August 2019)
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Market Commentary 30 August 2019
Markets to make a cautious start; GDP data eyed

 

Thursday turned out to be yet another weak day for Indian equity markets, as investors remained on sidelines on the F&O expiry day. The start of the day was negative, amid a private report stating that the Indian economy likely expanded at its slowest pace in more than five years in the April-June quarter, driven by weak investment growth and sluggish demand. Domestic sentiments remained lackluster, as slamming decision of the RBI to transfer its excess reserve to the government, bankers' body All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said the apex bank should not be an extension counter of the finance ministry and what is happening now is a matter of serious concern. Indian key indices remained under the grip of bears during the whole day, despite firm cues from global markets. Markets participants failed to take any sense of relief with the development that the Government relaxed conditions for single-brand retailers having foreign direct investment (FDI) for complying with the mandatory 30% local sourcing regulations by allowing them to adjust all of their purchases to meet this norm. Investors also ignored the Singaporean minister K Shanmugam's statement that India can explore many opportunities with the Southeast Asian grouping Asean and deepen the trade engagements with the region further. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 382.91 points or 1.02% to 37,068.93, while the CNX Nifty was down by 97.80 points or 0.89% to 10,948.30.


The US markets settled higher with gains of over one percent on Thursday on the heels of indications China is seeking to de-escalate the trade war with the US. Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng indicated China does not currently intend to retaliate against President Donald Trump's latest threat to raise the rate of tariffs on Chinese imports. Gao said we firmly reject an escalation of the trade war, and are willing to negotiate and collaborate in order to solve this problem with calm attitude. Gao claimed China has plenty of countermeasures it could impose but will instead focus on removing Trump's new tariffs, which were announced after China said it plans to impose tariffs on $75 billion worth of US goods. On the economic data front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest increase in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended August 24th. The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 215,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level of 211,000. Street had expected jobless claims to climb to 215,000 from the 209,000 originally reported for the previous week. Besides, a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed the pace of growth in US economic activity slowed by slightly more than initially estimated in the second quarter. The Commerce Department said gross domestic product increased by 2.0 percent in the second quarter compared to the previously reported 2.1 percent growth. The downward revision came in line with street estimates. The downwardly revised GDP growth seen in the second quarter compares to the 3.1 percent jump in GDP reported for the first quarter. Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 326.15 points or 1.25 percent to 26362.25, Nasdaq rose 116.51 points or 1.48 percent to 7973.39 and S&P 500 was up by 36.64 points or 1.27 percent to 2924.58.


Extending their previous session gains, crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as China said the country would not immediately respond to the latest round of tariffs, helping to defuse worries around an escalating US-China trade war. The intensifying battle has stoked fears of a global economic slowdown and the potential for a US recession, which would hit demand for energy. Besides, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 60 billion cubic feet for the week ended August 23. Benchmark crude oil futures for October rose 93 cents or 1.7 percent to settle at $56.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. October Brent gained 59 cents or 1 percent to settle at $61.08 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

 

Indian rupee pared most of its early losses but still ended marginally weaker against the American currency on Thursday, due to fresh dollar demand from banks and importers. Traders remain concerned with a private report stating that the Indian economy likely expanded at its slowest pace in more than five years in the April-June quarter, driven by weak investment growth and sluggish demand. Investors also remained on sidelines ahead of gross domestic product (GDP) data for the quarter ended June 30, due tomorrow. The weak trade in the local equity market also weighed on the local unit. On the global front, dollar held gains against the safe-haven yen on Thursday as ebbing recession worries soothed markets after earlier volatility although the pound nursed its losses as investors became increasingly worried about a hard Brexit. Finally, the rupee ended at 71.80, 3 paise weaker from its previous close of 71.77 on Wednesday.

 

The FIIs as per Thursday'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 3391.60 crore against gross selling of Rs 4656.05 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1564.73 crore with gross sales of Rs 1451.22 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 14.82 crore against gross selling of Rs 39.51 crore.

 

The US markets settled higher on Thursday amid renewed hopes for progress in the trade dispute between the US and China. Asian markets are trading in green on Friday as China struck a hopeful tone on trade with the US but continued fears about a global growth slowdown, or even a recession, capped sharp rallies. Indian markets ended lackluster trade in red on Thursday, with cut of around a percent each, dragged by a sell-off in financial stocks, as August series derivatives expired amid tepid global cues. Today, the markets are likely to make a cautious start. Investors will be looking ahead to the April-June quarter (Q1FY20) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers to be out later in the day. As per a private report, India's economy likely expanded at its weakest pace in more than five years in April-June, as consumer demand and private investment weakened at a time global trade frictions have dampened business sentiment. However, some respite may come later in the day as stating that consumption needs to be given a push, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre will announce two more big steps in the coming days to give momentum to industry. The government has decided to increase spending and has announced a slew of measures to arrest the sluggishness in the automobile market. There will be some buzz in the auto stocks with ICRA's report that passenger vehicle sales in India is likely to decline in the range of 4-7% this fiscal saying agricultural output, revival in economic and industrial growth would be critical for auto sector's growth despite recent government measures to rekindle demand. There will be some reaction in agriculture stocks with Crisil's report that monsoon deficit in the crucial first one-and-half months of the Kharif-sowing season, coupled with excessive rains in August that inundated agricultural fields in several states, are likely to drag down production of foodgrain (rice, pulses and coarse cereals) this season by 3-5% from last year's 141.71 million tonne. Banking stocks will be in focus with the RBI's report that early recognition and resolution of stressed assets have helped banks contain their gross non- performing loans ratio at 9.1% in FY19 down from 11.2% a year before. It said fresh slippages have also come down and as a result, the system-level provision coverage ratio has jumped to 60.9% during the period.

 

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

 

Index

Previous close

Support

Resistance

NSE Nifty

10,948.30

10,906.77

11,005.47

BSE Sensex

37,068.93

36,910.25

37,304.70

 

Nifty Top volumes

 

Stock

Volume

Previous close (Rs)

Support  (Rs)

Resistance (Rs)

(in Lacs)

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

199.67

434.65

424.30

441.80

Bharti Infratel

27.55

258.45

247.75

266.75

JSW Steel

187.86

211.95

204.28

217.08

Vedanta

143.79

135.75

131.72

138.87

Coal India

310.69

189.00

183.97

192.17

 

  • Bharti Airtel's subsidiary -- Airtel Africa has achieved the 100-million customers mark. 
  • ICICI Bank has deployed industrial Robotic Arms to digitise operations at its currency chests. 
  • IOC is planning to invest around Rs 2 trillion over the next five to seven years to expand the core petrochemical business and to ensure comprehensive energy solutions to the nation. 
  • Wipro has expanded its strategic partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate cloud adoption and digital transformation for global enterprises.
News Analysis