Extending
southward journey for third straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended
the sluggish day of trade with a cut of over one third of a percent with
frontline gauges breaching their crucial 11,500 (Nifty) and 38,100 (Sensex)
levels. Soon after making a cautious start, markets started moving southward as
sentiments remain dampened with 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%. Some cautiousness also
crept in 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. Adding
to the pessimism, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) raised concern over
potential for large-scale cyber-attacks on financial market infrastructure and
called for setting up the standards to bring about the change through talent
empowerment and investment in innovation. Markets extended southward journey
and domestic bourses even went to test psychological 37,800 (Sensex) and 11,400
(Nifty) levels after India's services sector activity fell in the month of
August from July's 21-month peak, primarily due to the weakest growth in new
work. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services
Business Activity Index dropped to 51.5 in August from 54.2 in July, signaling
the slowest growth in the current sequence. Besides, the Nikkei India Composite
PMI Output Index which measures both manufacturing and services too fell to
51.9 in August from 54.1 in July. However, the key gauges got some support near
those intraday low levels as they managed to trim some of their losses to end
off day's lows, as traders took some solace with Commerce and Industry Minister
Suresh Prabhu's statement that the proposed new industrial policy, to be
released soon, would help link domestic industry with the global supply chain.
Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 139.61 points or 0.37% to 38,018.31, while
the CNX Nifty was down by 43.35 points or 0.38% to 11,476.95.
Following the modest weakness
seen in the last session, the US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday as
investors braced for another round of trade negotiations between the US and
Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated Canada will not
bend on key demands regarding NAFTA in talks with the US this week. Trudeau
added there are a number of things they absolutely must see in a renegotiated
NAFTA. Besides, a sharp sell-off in tech
pushed the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 lower. The weakness in tech stocks
came as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. executives testified on Capitol Hill
about online misinformation. Further, there was some cautiousness in the
markets on reports that President Donald Trump intends to impose tariffs on
another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports as soon as a public comment
period ends on Thursday may also generate selling pressure. On the economic
front, the Commerce Department released a report showing the US trade deficit
widened in the month of July. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit
widened to $50.1 billion in July from a revised $45.7 billion in June. Street
had expected the deficit to widen to $50.1 billion from the $46.3 billion
originally reported for the previous month. The S&P 500 declined 8.12
points or 0.28 percent to 2888.60 and Nasdaq slipped 96.07 points or 1.19
percent to 7995.17, while Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 22.51 points or
0.09 percent to 25974.99.
Crude oil futures ended at their
lowest levels in about a week on Wednesday as a major storm that passed through
the Gulf of Mexico missed the bulk of the oil and natural-gas operations in the
region. Gordon largely turned out to be a non-event for the energy market, and
if anything, the sell-the-news aspect of the tropics trade has triggered a
profit-taking pullback across the space. However, prices have been bolstered in
recent weeks and are likely to remain supported amid signs that Iranian crude
exports are declining at a faster rate than expected, in the run up to November
when US sanctions on the country's oil industry take effect. Benchmark crude
oil futures for October dropped $1.15 or 1.7 percent to settle at $68.72 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November Brent crude declined 90
cents or 1.2% to settle at $77.27 a barrel on London's Intercontinental
Exchanged.
Continuing
its free fall for the sixth straight session, Indian rupee settled at a fresh
record closing low against dollar on Wednesday, hurt by fresh demand for the
American currency from importers. Sentiments remain dampened 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. Some cautiousness
also crept in on report that India's services sector activity fell in August
from July's 21-month peak as new business orders declined, following which
firms raised their staffing levels at a modest pace amid rising input cost
inflation. The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index declined
to 51.5 in August from a 21-month high of 54.2 in July. On the global front,
dollar rose broadly on Wednesday as concerns grew that US President Donald
Trump may soon ramp up a trade war with Beijing by imposing tariffs on more
Chinese imports. Finally, the rupee ended at 71.78, 21 paise weaker from its
previous close of 71.57 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Wednesday'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 5976.21 crore against gross
selling of Rs 4357.45 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 935.89 crore with gross sales of Rs 2634.55 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, there was no gross buying and gross selling.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Wednesday as trade tensions resurfaced ahead of more talks between the
United States and Canada on revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red on Thursday amid ongoing concerns
about emerging-markets. The Indian markets ended lower on Wednesday, with Nifty
settling below 11,500 mark, as investor sentiment remained bearish amid a
plunging rupee and weak global cues. Moreover, India's August services sector
activity fell from the 21-month high to 51.5 in August also dampened the
sentiments. Today, the markets are likely to open in green after three sessions
of losses as oil extended overnight losses on expectations of weaker demand
from China and other emerging markets. Traders will be getting some support
with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that there is no need to worry
over the steep fall in the Indian rupee's value against the US dollar as the
inherent strength of the country's economy will aid in arresting the downtrend.
Also, easing compliance burden for businesses, the Finance Ministry said that
Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds can be claimed by simply submitting a
printout of GSTR-2A form to tax authorities instead of giving all purchase
invoices of a month. Traders may take note of The Securities and Exchange Board
of India's (SEBI) statement that it would review an order tightening rules on
foreign funds ownership by entities of Indian origin, after some fund managers
said it could lead to massive dollar outflows. There will be some buzz in the
steel sector stocks with ICRA's report that sharp depreciation in the rupee is
likely to help the domestic steel industry lower imports and boost exports in
the coming months, which in turn may improve the country's overall steel trade
balance. Also, there will be some reaction in sugar sector stocks as facing an
unprecedented crisis of surplus production, the Indian sugar industry demanded
the government hike the minimum sale price (MSP) of sugar to Rs 36 a kilo (kg),
from the current Rs 29 and mandatorily fix a quota of export of 7 million
tonnes (MT) for the 2018-19 season that starts from October.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,476.95
|
11,399.65
|
11,548.45
|
BSE Sensex
|
38,018.31
|
37,778.28
|
38,254.47
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
841.47
|
343.80
|
335.73
|
348.38
|
SBI
|
676.63
|
296.55
|
291.68
|
300.13
|
ICICI Bank
|
477.03
|
329.65
|
325.72
|
332.47
|
Wipro
|
367.63
|
318.85
|
315.57
|
321.07
|
Hindalco
Industries
|
270.38
|
239.95
|
233.87
|
243.47
|
Bharti Airtel will offer new prepaid recharge coupons of Rs 35, Rs 65 and Rs 95.
Vedanta is optimistic about completion of its refinery expansion project, encouraged by supply of bauxite from the state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation.
Maruti Suzuki India called for a clear and stable policy framework to enable the automobile industry to prepare for future mobility.
Tech Mahindra has partnered with FutureSkills to train its workforce in next-gen technologies.