Extending
previous session's southward journey, Indian equity benchmarks ended the choppy
day of trade with a cut of around half a percent, with frontline gauges
breaching their crucial 38,200 (Sensex) and 11,550 (Nifty) levels. Local
bourses traded lackluster for most part of the day, as traders remained little
concerned with a private report that the Indian stock markets could tumble and
the rupee may fall further ahead of the general elections if a contentious KYC
circular issued by the stock market regulator is not scrapped soon. Traders
reacted negatively to a private report highlighting that a sustained weakness
in the rupee may push the Reserve Bank of India to further tighten monetary
policy, perhaps as early as next month. However, key gauges managed to cap
losses till noon deals as some solace came with Fitch Ratings' statement that
the currency volatility will have only a limited impact on India's sovereign
credit profile as the country benefits from strong external finances. In a
report on APAC sovereigns, Fitch said the recent sell-offs in Indian and
Indonesian currency markets underline their sensitivity to shifts in global
sentiment, and suggest further bouts of pressure are likely as global monetary
tightening progresses. But, selling in last leg of trade played spoil sports
for Indian markets and dragged key gauges below their respective psychological
levels, as Reserve Bank of India's report stated that export credit provided by
banks fell sharply by about 47% to Rs 21,900 crore as of July 20 from a year
earlier. This is despite the fact that total lending to the priority sector
rose 7.5%. The persistent decline in export credit, especially, to small
players in the current year. Adding some woes, ICRA in its latest report stated
that India's apparel exports are likely to remain subdued in the near term,
even as the worst appears to be over. With the base effect setting in, ICRA
expects India's apparel exports to grow at a modest pace of 1%-2% Y-o-Y for the
rest of FY2019, vis-a-vis a sharp de-growth of 14% Y-o-Y in first four months
of FY2019. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 154.60 points or 0.40% to
38,157.92, while the CNX Nifty was down by 62.04 points or 0.54% to 11,520.30.
The US markets ended marginally
lower on Tuesday on account of lingering concerns about global trade after US
and Canadian officials failed to reach an agreement to reform NAFTA. President
Donald Trump said that there is no political necessity to keep Canada in the
new NAFTA deal. Further, there were some
cautiousness in the markets on recent
reports have suggested Trump also plans to move ahead with tariffs on $200
billion worth of Chinese imports as early as this week. However, losses remain
capped after the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management
showing activity in the US manufacturing sector unexpectedly grew at a faster
rate in the month of August. The ISM said its purchasing managers index climbed
to 61.3 in August from 58.1 in July, with a reading above 50 indicating growth
in the manufacturing sector. Street had expected the index to dip to 57.7.
Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed a
modest uptick in construction spending in the US in the month of July. The
Commerce Department said construction spending inched up by 0.1% to an annual
rate of $1.315 trillion in July after falling by 0.8% to a revised rate of
$1.314 trillion in June. Street had expected construction to rise by 0.5%
compared to the 1.1% slump originally reported for the previous month. Dow
Jones Industrial Average declined 12.34 points or 0.05 percent to 25952.48, the
S&P 500 dropped 4.80 points or 0.17 percent to 2896.72 and Nasdaq was down
by 18.29 points or 0.23 percent to 8091.25.
Crude oil futures ended few cents
higher on Tuesday with the benchmark prices holding below $70, as a storm in
the Gulf of Mexico looked set to miss the bulk of the region's energy
production platforms. The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported
that 54 production platforms, which represent nearly 7.9% of all manned
platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, have been evacuated because of the storm.
About 9.2% of oil production in the Gulf has been shut in. Benchmark crude oil
futures for October gained 7 cents or 0.1 percent to settle at $69.87 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November Brent crude added 2 cents to
settle at $78.17 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Continuing
its record closing low for the fifth straight day, Indian rupee ended
considerably weaker against the Greenback on Tuesday, on fresh bouts of dollar
demand from importers. Traders remained cautious with a private report
highlighting that a sustained weakness in the rupee may push the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) to further tighten monetary policy, perhaps as early as next
month. Traders also took note of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar's
statement that the revised mechanism introduced by former RBI governor Raghuram
Rajan to identify NPAs stopped banks from issuing fresh credit, resulting in
slowdown of the economy in post demonetisation period. On the global front,
dollar extended gains across the board on Tuesday, as concerns about a possible
escalation in trade conflict between the US and China prompted investors to
dump emerging market currencies. Finally, the rupee ended at 71.57, 39 paise
weaker from its previous close of 71.18 on Monday.
The FIIs as per Tuesday's data
were net buyers in equity segment, while they were net sellers in debt segment.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5844.62 crore against gross
selling of Rs 4408.56 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 135.32 crore with gross sales of Rs 866.71 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross selling was of Rs 0.42 crore against no buying.
The US markets ended lower on
Tuesday as investors were anxious about the trade tensions between Washington
and its key trading partners. Asian markets were trading in red on Wednesday
following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street amid worries about trade
wars and the turbulence in emerging market currencies. Amid volatile trading
session, the Indian markets extended their losses in dying hours of trade to
end near intraday low levels on Tuesday as a weak rupee along with higher crude
oil prices dragged the market down. Today, the start is likely to be in red
amid weak global cues. Investors will be eyeing Services PMI data for the month
of August to be out later in the day. Traders will be concerned about a report
that the National Council of Applied Economic Research's (NCAER) business
confidence index (N-BCI) fell by 12.9% in July over April this year on a
quarter-on-quarter basis on account of worsening of business sentiments across
various segments. NCAER said the decline in the N-BCI on a year-on-year basis
works out to be 15.9%. There will be some cautiousness with a private report
that India's growth rate is expected to moderate this fiscal despite a strong
start in the April-June quarter largely owing to tighter financial conditions,
limited fiscal headroom and upcoming elections. Also, there will be negative
reaction on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data showing that investment by
Indian companies in their overseas ventures fell by more than 36% to $1.39
billion in July this year. However, traders may take note of the Confederation
of Indian Industry's (CII) statement that the 8.2% economic growth in the first
quarter of 2018-19 is an outcome of key reforms like GST and liberalisation of
FDI norms initiated by the government. Meanwhile, finance ministry said that
the government will not cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to cushion
spiralling prices, which touched fresh highs on Tuesday, as it has limited
fiscal space available to take any dent in revenue collections.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,520.30
|
11,477.25
|
11,582.95
|
BSE Sensex
|
38,157.92
|
37,998.16
|
38,418.12
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
SBI
|
428.59
|
296.40
|
292.08
|
304.08
|
Yes Bank
|
220.58
|
334.05
|
329.93
|
340.78
|
ICICI Bank
|
154.70
|
328.50
|
325.02
|
334.22
|
Infosys
|
153.70
|
737.15
|
719.27
|
751.77
|
Tata Motors
|
147.76
|
261.95
|
257.93
|
268.38
|
NTPC has started its first electric vehicle charging station in Simhadri, Vishakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh in line with the government's plan to switch to clean mobility.
The USFDA has completed cGMP inspection at Lupin's Tarapur API Manufacturing Facility.
Maruti Suzuki India's parent company -- Suzuki Motor Corporation -- is planning to invest at least Rs 9,000 crore to build a new car plant in the state of Gujarat.
HPCL is planning to build an underground LPG storage facility in Mangaluru, which will be second such facility in India.