ONGC, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel, RIL and HDFC emerged as the biggest losers
Wholesale inflation rate eased to 34-month low of (-) 0.92 per cent in April on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation has been on a declining trend for 11 months in a row and entered the negative zone in April. In June 2020 WPI was at (-) 1.81 per cent.
Earlier in his address, he said with over 500 million bank accounts in the country, it is estimated that the Indian banking system produces over one billion transactions a day.
The rise in US interest rates and associated change in the direction of capital flows, the fall in oil prices and the slowdown in China will dominate the markets, say Abheek Barua and Bidisha Ganguly
Market reaction to the Union Budget was overall neutral. The income tax "gift" wasn't enough to move the needle. There was some apparent rationalisation of Customs duty structure as well as cuts on import duties of some key components for the telecom and IT industry and duty cuts on vehicle imports. Other proposals related to development of agriculture and rural economy and renewables seem to be generally positive.
India imports 1.2 billion barrels of oil, and oil prices are falling, falling...
Market participants attribute the stability to the Reserve Bank of India's timely intervention in the foreign exchange market, both in terms of selling and buying dollars.
Global food prices rebounded in January this year demonstrating the volatility in the international food markets, after falling for six months since July, 2011, United Nation's body FAO said on Friday.
India's overall retail inflation eased to 4.41 per cent in September, helped by falling commodity prices, but rural inflation was at 5.05 per cent
Indian equity markets should be able to withstand inflation up to 8 per cent, said analysts at Credit Suisse Wealth Management in a recent note. Should the rate of inflation move higher than this, the valuation of Indian equities could deteriorate further, they cautioned. The fall from the peak levels has seen Nifty's 12-month forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.6 dip toward its 10-year and 5-year (pre-COVID) average of 16.9, which suggests that valuation froth of Indian equities has settled, said the Credit Suisse analysts.
Oil firms were supposed to break-even on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene if the price of the basket of crude India buys were to come down to $67 per barrel. However, with 20 per cent depreciation in value of rupee against the dollar, the break-even point is now at $61 a barrel.
Irregular rainfall and a pick-up in commodity costs are expected to weigh on the demand and margins of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. Most companies reported a sharp expansion in gross margins in the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), given the lower prices of key raw materials and earlier price hikes. Furthermore, there were expectations that cost savings being passed on could reflect in volume growth going forward. However, these hopes could be dashed if demand recovery, especially in the rural segment, stalls, and gains on the raw material front start to recede.
Will the rupee keep falling in value against the US dollar? What will be its impact?
From its recent lows, the stock of consumer major Marico is up 7 per cent on the back of a better-than-expected June quarter performance and robust outlook. In a pre-quarter update, the management indicated that domestic volume growth should witness an improvement in FY25, while other segments (growth portfolio, international business) too would see traction going ahead. The near-term trigger is strong sales and operating performance for Q1FY25.
Industrial production and inflation data, quarterly earnings from IT majors and global trends would drive the equity markets in a holiday-shortened week, analysts said. Moreover, foreign fund trading activity, movement of the rupee and global crude oil prices would also dictate terms in the market, they added. Equity markets would remain closed on Friday for 'Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti'.
'Focus on 19,400/64,900 as the key resistance levels for the Nifty/Sensex.'
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty reversed their early gains to close lower on Wednesday due to selling in oil & gas, banking and IT stocks amid weak trends in European markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 372.46 points or 0.69 per cent to close at 53,514.15, extending its falling streak to a third day. The index opened higher and touched the day's high of 54,211.22 amid gains in Asian markets.
After remaining in the positive zone for three months, India's exports contracted 1.2 per cent to $33.98 billion in July, while the trade deficit widened to $23.5 billion.
India's macroeconomic indicators are improving and inflation has been coming down consistent with the central bank's forecast, but Asia's third-largest economy needs investment growth to pick up, he added.
Among the Sensex firms, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India were the major gainers. In contrast, Tata Motors, Maruti, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, NTPC, Tata Steel and Bajaj Finserv were the major laggards.
Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday touched fresh highs as rupee dipped to a record low of 71.54 against US dollar, making imports costlier
From the 30 Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti were the biggest laggards. Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, on Monday reported a 5 per cent fall in the July-September quarter net profit as weak oil refining and petrochemical business hurt operational performance. ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement and HCL Technologies were among the gainers.
Petrol price was on Friday cut by Rs 2.42 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.25 a litre after an excise duty hike limited the benefit of global crude prices slumping to six-year low.
Among the Sensex firms, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Titan and Axis Bank were among the major laggards. Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti and Nestle were the gainers.
Slide in the rupee, surging oil prices, and rising bond yields have triggered the latest fall in the market.
Wall Street brokerage Bank of America Securities has pencilled in lower than the consensus retail inflation for the current fiscal year at 5 per cent, but higher than the previous forecast of 4.7 per cent. Stating that the June print will be critical for the future trajectory -- after the extremely high 6.3 per cent print in May, the brokerage in a report on Friday revised upwards its forecast by 30 bps to an yearly average of 5 per cent for the year to March 2022. "Though the June print will be critical for future trajectory, beyond near-term, we find some comfort from our analysis of four key factors that are likely to influence CPI inflation the most.
Benchmark indices settled lower on Friday, with the Sensex declining 111 points on the back of a sharp fall in index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The BSE benchmark went lower by 111.01 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 52,907.93. During the day, it tanked 924.69 points or 1.74 per cent to 52,094.25. The NSE Nifty dipped 28.20 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 15,752.05.
Oil India is set to usher in a new era with a road map drawn to ramp up production and diversification plans to foray into liquefied natural gas
The Islamic State rakes in over US $1 million (Rs 6.4 crore) per day in extortion and taxation and the dreaded terror group has enough assets to cover its expenses despite falling oil prices, according to a media report.
The local currency moved in a range of 59.80 and 60.05 per dollar during the morning trade.
While consumers have enjoyed lower fuel prices, producers have cut spending and thousands of jobs
The inflow of cheap capital has also kept the rupee at a high level, making exports uncompetitive and broadening the current account deficit despite falling oil prices.
Weak equity markets too hit rupee sentiment
A muted revenue performance in the September quarter and weak management commentary weighed on the stock of consumer major Marico which shed 8.5 per cent to Rs 542 from its intraday highs on Tuesday. The company indicated that demand trends were similar to that of the June quarter with instances of increasing food prices and below-normal rainfall distribution in some regions impeding the anticipated recovery in rural demand.
The domestic currency had gained by 80 paise, or 1.19 per cent, in previous five trading days.
Wholesale inflation fell to a 4-month low of 1.31 per cent in August due to a decline in prices of vegetables and fuel, even though onion and potato prices spiked, according to official data released on Tuesday. Wholesale price index-based inflation fell for the second straight month in August after it hit a high of 3.43 per cent in May. Inflation in July was 2.04 per cent. In August last year, WPI inflation was (-) 0.46 per cent.
A fall in the rupee could boost exports. But the flip side of the equation is that a weaker rupee could stoke some inflation
Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank were the major gainers. Power Grid, Nestle, Asian Paints and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.
ATF for domestic carriers has become 11.22 per cent cheaper since October and is expected to see more price cuts in the next three months.
Among top losers that dragged down key indices were Infosys, TCS, Reliance, SBI, Tata Steel and ITC, falling up to 2.15 per cent.
