Friday turned out to be a
disappointing day of trade for Indian equity benchmarks, as key indices traded
sluggish through the session and settled below their crucial 31,600 (Sensex)
and 9,850 (nifty) levels. Traders opted to book profits in risky assets after
three days of continuous rally amid weak global cues. Heavy selling in IT pack
mainly dampened sentiments with Infosys leading the fall on the back of
developments in the top management exit. IT major announced that its board of
directors has accepted the resignation of Vishal Sikka as the Managing Director
and CEO with immediate effect. Some pessimism also crept in with Chief Economic
Adviser Arvind Subramanian's statement that
overemphasis on renewable energy would create a 'double whammy' for the
government by reducing the viability of thermal power plants and raising bad
loans of state-owned banks. Traders shrugged off report by real estate
consulting firm CBRE South Asia that India has surpassed China in the global
Retail Development Index in 2017, indicating growing prominence of the country
as a preferred retail destination for global brands. Traders failed to get any
sense of relief with report that the government gave some relief to taxpayers availing
of transitional input tax credit under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime
by giving them an extra week till 28 August 28 to file tax returns. Finally,
the BSE Sensex lost 270.78 points or 0.85% to 31,524.68, while the CNX Nifty
was down by 66.75 points or 0.67% to 9,837.40.
The US markets closed lower on
Friday, to register another unsightly week of losses as low volumes and
skittish investors left Wall Street especially vulnerable to pullbacks. Stocks
shifted between gains and losses as President Donald Trump's strategist Stephen
Bannon departed the White House, following the prior day's selloff fueled by a
terrorist attack in Barcelona and rumors that Trump's economic adviser Gary
Cohn might resign. On the economy front, Americans were almost as optimistic
about the economy in August as they were at the start of the year, when
President Donald Trump took office, according to a closely watched
consumer-sentiment survey. The University of Michigan's sentiment index climbed
to 97.6 in August from 93.4 in July, sitting just below a 98.5 reading in
January that marked a 13-year high. The Michigan survey, for instance, found a
notable increase in the number of people who said their own financial
well-being had improved. An index that measures current conditions slipped to
111 from 113.4. A gauge that looks out six months rose to 89 from 80.5,
however, also marking the highest level since January. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average dropped 76.22 points or 0.35 percent to 21,674.51, the Nasdaq lost 5.38
points or 0.09 percent to 6,216.53, while the S&P 500 edged lower by 4.46
points or 0.18 percent to 2,425.55.
Crude oil futures extended their
gains on Friday with a rally after industry data showed the U.S. rig count fell
the week, while on the demand side of the equation, the University of Michigan
released a report on Friday showing a much bigger than expected improvement in
US consumer sentiment in the month of August. The report said the preliminary
reading on the consumer sentiment index for August jumped to 97.6 from the
final July reading of 93.4. Meanwhile, oilfield services firm Baker Hughes on
Friday, showing its weekly count of oil rigs operating in the United States
last week fell by five rigs to a total of 763. The dip in U.S. oil rigs eased
investor concerns that rising U.S. production could hamper Opec's ability to
stem the glut in supplies. Benchmark crude oil futures for September delivery ended
up by $1.42 or 3 percent to $48.51 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In
London, Brent crude for September delivery ended higher by 3.59 percent at $52.87
a barrel on the ICE.
Indian
rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Friday due to sustained selling
of the US currency by exporters and banks. Sentiments got support with report
that the government gave some relief to taxpayers availing of transitional
input tax credit under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime by giving them
an extra week till 28 August 28 to file tax returns. The domestic unit also
found some support from dollar weakness overseas. However, the rupee's gains
were restricted as the domestic equities remained weak. On the global front,
yen was the major mover among the G10 group of developed world currencies on
Friday, gaining another half per cent against the dollar as nerves over stock
market valuations and the future of an 8-year global rally seeped into other
assets. Finally, the rupee ended at 64.14, 1 paise stronger from its previous
close of 64.15 on Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 8959.08 crore against gross selling of Rs 10886.50 crore,
while, in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 363.69 crore with
gross sales of Rs 533.13 crore.
The US markets once again ended
in red in the last session following the sell-off seen in the previous session.
The trade remained lacklusture and the major averages spent much of the session
bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. The Asian markets have made
mostly a soft start, eyeing the key meeting of global central bankers at Jackson
Hole, Wyoming. The Indian markets suffered severe sell-off in the last session
and the major benchmarks lost around a percent in aftermath of Infosys CEO
Vishal Sikka's resignation. Today, the start is likely to be cautious and some
recovery in the pounded Infosys shares can be seen, which can support the
overall markets, as the Infosys' board approved a Rs 13,000-crore share buyback
at Rs 1,150 per share, almost 25 percent higher than the Friday's close.
Traders will be eyeing the PM Narendra Modi's meet with industry leaders for
policy inputs to build a 'New India'. The banking stocks will remain in focus,
as the Centre is looking to set up a new mechanism to speed up decisions on
possible mergers among PSBs. The new process will be along the lines of the
alternative mechanism that's been adopted for strategic disinvestments, which
involves a small group of cabinet ministers. Meanwhile, RBI Governor Urjit
Patel has said that the central bank is working closely with the government to
resolve non performing asset (NPA) problem and considering package of measures.
The infra stocks will be buzzing with a flash report by the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) stating that as many as 322 infrastructure projects, each
worth Rs150 crore or above, have seen a total cost overrun of Rs1.71 lakh crore
by March 2017.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE
(Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
9,837.40
|
9792.05
|
9874.35
|
BSE Sensex
|
31524.68
|
31339.25
|
31720.00
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
Infosys
|
822.02
|
923.25
|
865.67
|
999.37
|
ITC
|
148.7
|
281.85
|
277.77
|
284.97
|
Bank of Baroda
|
136.28
|
147.2
|
144.92
|
148.87
|
Vedanta
|
127.81
|
298.4
|
294.47
|
302.87
|
SBI
|
126.53
|
278.70
|
276.58
|
280.23
|
Infosys in association with ATP, the governing body of men's professional tennis, has launched a new 'PlayerZone' app and website.
Axis Bank has launched a new home loan product that entails waiving off a few EMIs during the course of a loan.
Power Grid Corporation of India has entered into loan agreement with Asian Development Bank on August 17, 2017 for an amount of $500 million.
NTPC has inked pact with online cab service provider OLA Cabs for providing round-the-clock taxi services under the Ola Corporate plan to its employees.