The Nifty is indecisive over the extreme short-term, awaiting further news flows. The slightly longer term trend is up
Dismal industrial production numbers for June, forecast of lower GDP growth by another global agency and not so impressive corporate results resulted in the market paring its gains in post-noon trade and settling lower. Today the Nifty broke the past three days’ trend of a higher high and higher low. Yesterday we had mentioned that the index is waiting for a break-out to decide the further direction. We may see now the index moving sideways for a day or two before it is able to find its further move. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 64.76 crore shares.
The market opened in the marginally positive following supportive cues from the Asian pack, which was higher in morning trade on speculation that Chinese authorities would tweak its monetary policy in view of a lower reading of the country’s consumer inflation. The Nifty started off trade at 5,348, up 10 points and the Sensex gained 11 points to resume trade at 17,612.
Support from banking, capital goods, IT and auto sectors enabled the benchmarks hit their intraday high in initial trade itself. At the highs, the Nifty rose to 5,368 and the Sensex climbed to 17,703.
However, nervousness ahead of the release of the industrial production numbers for June saw the indices paring their gains as trade progressed as analysts expected a contraction in the industrial output data.
Worries that the dismal IIP numbers would impact the GDP growth, the market continued its southward journey. Industrial production declined by 1.8% in June, mainly due to poor show by the manufacturing and capital goods sectors, indicating a persistent slowdown in the economy. Industrial output in the April-June quarter too contracted by 0.1% this fiscal.
The market was seen near its previous closing levels in noon trade in the absence of any fresh triggers and two of the three key European indices opening lower. Index heavyweight Tata Motors slipped on lower-than-expected quarterly numbers while government-owned lender State Bank of India dropped over 4% ahead of the announcement of its numbers tomorrow.
The benchmark made an attempt to emerge into the green at around 2.45pm but selling pressure once again pushed the market lower.
The market settled lower on concerns about lower growth and not-so-impressive corporate results. The Nifty settled 15 points down at 5,323 and the Sensex lost 40 points to finish trade at 17,561.
The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was in favour of the losers at 567:1120.
Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index fell 0.26% 0.20% and the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.41%.
The top sectoral gainers were BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 1.42%); BSE Metal (up 0.64%); BSE Auto (up 0.44%); BSE Power (up 0.26%) and BSE Capital Goods (up 0.22%). The main losers were BS Oil & Gas (down 1.05%); BSE TECk (down 0.88%); BSE Bankex (down 0.70%); BSE PSU (down 0.66%) and BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.34%).
The Sensex was led by Sterlite Industries (up 3.36%); Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.87%); Tata Power (up 2.55%); Hindustan Unilever (up 2.38%) and Coal India (up 2.03%). Bharti Airtel (down 6.40%); State Bank of India (down 4.33%); HDFC (down 3.63%); Reliance Industries (down 1.31%) and Wipro (down 1.24%) settled at the bottom of the index.
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Bajaj Finserv (up 6.35%) and Marico (up 5.63%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Aurobindo Pharma (down 7.66%) and Bharti Airtel (down 6.40%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Mount Shivalik Industries (up 20%) and Landmarc Corporation (up 20%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—SP Capital Financing (down 16.38%) and Alchemist Realty (down 13.88%).
The top stocks on the Nifty were M&M (up 3.09%); Sterlite Ind (up 3.07%); HUL (up 2.64%); Tata Power (up 2.60%) and Coal India (up 2.27%). The main laggards were Bharti Airtel (down 6.25%); SBI (down 4.31%); HDFC (down 4.08%); BPCL (down 3.24%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.51%).
Markets in Asia settled mostly higher on hopes of fresh stimulus from Chinese policymakers in view of a drop in consumer inflation. This apart, China’s factory output for July slowed to its weakest in over three years.
The Shanghai Composite advanced 0.61%; the Hang Seng surged 1.02%; the Jakarta Composite climbed 0.99%; the KLSE Composite jumped 1.10%; the Seoul Composite jumped 1.96% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 1.56% higher. Bucking the trend, the Straits Times declined 0.50%.
At the time of writing, the key European indices were down between 0.11% and 0.60% and the US stock futures were mixed.
Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares amounting to Rs1,114.20 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of stocks totalling Rs794.71 crore.
IT hardware major HCL Infosystems today said it has bought out the remaining 40% stake in Dubai-based IT services and solutions provider HCL Infosystems MEA. The company acquired the stake through its Singapore subsidiary and now HCL Infosystems MEA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HCL Infosystems, it said in a statement. HCL Info declined 0.77% to settle at Rs38.55 on the NSE.
SAIL has decided to outsource development of two huge virgin iron ore mines at Rowghat in Chhattisgarh and Chiria in Jharkhand, a company official has said. It would cost Rs1,000-Rs1,200 crore each for developing the mines, he said, adding that if this method is successful, SAIL’s investment for mine development would be reduced by around Rs2,500 crore. The stock tanked 1.33% to close at Rs85.45 on the NSE.
Suven Life Sciences today said it has secured four product patents for new chemical entities that are targeted at potential treatment of disorders associated with the brain. These patents are from Australia, Canada, Korea and New Zealand. Their validity will be through 2026 to 2028, the company said in a release. The stock jumped 6.86% to settle at Rs16.35 on the NSE.
