In a highly volatile session,
Indian equity benchmarks pared most of intra-day losses to end Friday's session
on flat note with negative bias. Buying in Energy, IT and TECK stocks lifted
the indices in the last hour of trade but couldn't pull the indices out of the
red zone. Key indices kicked off session on sluggish note, following weakness
in Asian peers amid Sino-U.S. tensions. Traders remained cautious with Economic
Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj's statement that the government is unlikely to
meet the Budget targets for 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 crisis but contraction
in economic growth may not be as severe as being pointed out by the outside
world. Selling further crept in with Rajya Sabha MP -- Subramanian Swamy's
statement that India's growth rate may plunge to 6 to 9 percent during the
current financial year due to COVID-19 pandemic and may bounce back next fiscal
if correct policies were worked out. Markets also retreated on the back of a record
jump in daily domestic coronavirus cases and its impact on economic recovery.
However, markets reversed most their losses in dying hour of trade, as traders
found some support with Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey's statement that
tax mop up in first quarter of the current fiscal is very encouraging and
indicates that the economy is recovering sooner than what was anticipated at
the time of imposition of lockdown. Some support may also come as IHS Markit
expects the Indian economy to rebound in the second half of 2020 as the impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, and predicts 6.7% growth in the next
financial year. Meanwhile, the finance ministry has requested think tank Niti
Aayog to work on a five-year asset monetisation road map as the Centre continues
efforts to meet its funding needs. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 11.57 points or
0.03% to 38,128.90, while the CNX Nifty was down by 21.30 points or 0.19% to
11,194.15.
Extending their previous
session's losses, US markets ended lower on Friday as the technology-heavy
Nasdaq Composite notched its first back-to-back decline since mid-May. Also,
investors fretted about rising US-China tensions and a lack of progress on
another fiscal stimulus bill in Washington. Beijing decided to revoke the
license for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in
Chengdu. The move comes just days after the US government ordered China to
close its consulate in Houston, Texas, amid accusations Chinese diplomats aided
in economic espionage and the attempted theft of scientific research. Worries
about the continued spike in coronavirus cases also generated some negative
sentiment, with the US reporting 68,663 new cases on Thursday, according to
data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On the economic front, the Commerce
Department released a report showing new home sales in the US continued to
spike in the month of June. The Commerce Department said new home sales soared
by 13.8 percent to an annual rate of 776,000 in June after skyrocketing by 19.4
percent to a revised rate of 682,000 in May. Street had expected new home sales
to jump 3.6 percent to a rate of 700,000 from the 676,000 originally reported
for the previous month. With the much bigger than expected increase, new home
sales continued to rebound after falling to the lowest annual rate in well over
a year in April and reached their highest level since July of 2007.
Crude oil futures ended higher
with modest gains on Friday as stronger-than-expected economic data from Europe
and the US helped to ease worries about energy demand outlook a bit. US
business activity increased to a six-month high in July, snapping five straight
months of contractions. Though, gains remained capped as investors weigh some
signs of economic improvement against tensions between the world's biggest
economic superpowers, both of which may influence global energy demand. Traders
also continued to eye the impact of rising cases of COVID-19 in parts of the
world, which could lead to business disruptions and a slowdown in economic
recovery. Crude oil futures for September gained 22 cents or 0.5 percent to
settle at $41.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent
crude inched up by 3 cents or 0.07 percent to settle at $43.34 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended weaker against
the US dollar on Friday, on increased demand for the greenback from importers
and banks. Traders remain concerned with Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun
Bajaj's statement that the government is unlikely to meet the Budget targets
for current financial year (FY21) due to the COVID-19 crisis but contraction in
economic growth may not be as severe as being pointed out by the outside world.
Further, US-China tensions, pressure in Indian equity markets and surge in
coronavirus cases too dented the investors' sentiment. On the global front; Japanese
yen rose to a one-month high while the euro's gains paused as traders waited
for flash Purchasing Managers' Index readings for July across major developed
economies. Finally, the rupee ended at 74.84, 9 paise weaker from its previous
close of 74.75 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net buyers in both equity segment and debt segment. In equity segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 5785.23 crore against gross selling of Rs 3670.88 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 937.04 crore with gross
sales of Rs 679.70 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 5.97 crore against gross selling of Rs 1.54 crore.
The US markets ended lower on
Friday as investors grew anxious about rising tensions with China and a
potential stalling of the economic recovery. Asian markets are trading mostly
in green on Monday as China's industrial profits for June soared 11.5%
year-on-year, according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics. Indian
markets came off intraday lows and ended flat on Friday as losses in banking
heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were offset
with gains in Reliance Industries. Today, the start of the crucial F&O
series expiry week is likely to be a higher tailing the positive cues from
Asian peers. Investors will be eyeing RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' address to
the CII National Council members later today. Traders will be taking
encouragement as terming India as the best destination for foreign investment
with high returns, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari urged European investors to
invest in India. Also, RBI data showed the country's foreign exchange reserves
surged by $1.275 billion to touch a fresh lifetime high of $517.637 billion in
the week to July 17. However, rising coronavirus cases may dampen sentiments in
the markets. India's daily addition to coronavirus tally has crossed the 50,000
mark, with the country recording over 5,0500 in just 24 hours. The total Covid
tally in India now stands at 1,436,019, including over 32,800 deaths. Traders
may be concerned with report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained
net sellers in Indian markets in July so far on account of both domestic and
global factors, including rising number of coronavirus cases and increasing
tension between the US and China. There may be some reaction with a private
report that the Indian economy is likely to face inflationary pressures in the
near term, as factors like supply chain disruption and lack of low-wage workers
are expected to offset the deflationary pressures from subdued demand in the
economy. There will be some buzz in the fertilizer stocks with Chemicals and
Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda's statement that the government is
taking measures for ease of doing business in the fertiliser sector and to
ensure smooth supply of soil nutrients to farmers. Aviation stocks will be in focus
as India extended the ban on capacity addition and capping of fare by airlines
till November 24 amid growing coronavirus cases in the country. There will be
some reaction in MSMEs stocks as the finance ministry said banks have
sanctioned loans of about Rs 1,30,491 crore under the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency
Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for MSME sector, hit hard by the economic
slowdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic. There will be earnings announcements too,
to keep the markets in action.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,194.15
|
11,114.50
|
11,249.60
|
BSE Sensex
|
38,128.90
|
37839.63
|
38326.95
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
State Bank of India
|
652.66
|
191.95
|
189.63
|
195.28
|
ITC
|
601.86
|
199.60
|
197.37
|
201.77
|
Reliance Industries
|
556.57
|
2,146.15
|
2081.63
|
2186.83
|
ICICI Bank
|
529.82
|
381.80
|
373.07
|
389.62
|
Tata Motors
|
393.66
|
103.75
|
102.47
|
105.27
|
Maruti Suzuki India has introduced Smartplay Studio Infotainment System in Ignis Zeta MT & AMT variants.
Wipro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 4C, one of the largest Salesforce partners in UK, Europe and the Middle East.
HUL is planning to retain its xtea business in India and Indonesia, months after it announced a global review of its portfolio in January this year.
Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Jio has topped Trai's 4G speed chart with an average download speed of 16.5 mbps in June.