HOME > MARKETS > MARKET COMMENTARY
  MARKET COMMENTARY
EQUITY
Markets likely to start Friday's session on positive note
Oct-22-2021

Indian markets extended losses to third straight day on Thursday, dragged by IT, metal and consumer stocks. Sharp gains in financial shares kept the downside in check. Today, benchmarks are likely to start session on a positive note, amid mixed global cues. Traders will be taking encouragement with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar's statement that Indian economy is expected to grow 10.5 per cent or more in the current fiscal. He also said that modernisation of the retail sector is very much on the cards. Some support might also come as ICRA stated that with half of the 15 high-frequency indicators recovering to the pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter, the economy finally looks nearly out of the pandemic woods, helping the Q2 GDP print at 7.7 per cent. Additionally, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has exuded confidence that India will become a $5-trillion economy by 2024-25 and $10-trillion by 2030. Traders may take note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that all indicators, including GDP, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and exports growth, are pointing towards a clear and sharp economic recovery in the country. Meanwhile, according to Reserve Bank of India data, the credit dispensed by commercial banks in India rose by 6.47 per cent on a year-on-year basis (Y-o-Y basis) to Rs 110.3 trillion as on October 08, 2021. The pace of credit is shed higher than 5.7 per cent a year ago. However, traders may be concerned as foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said even as trade between India and China continues to expand, it remains unbalanced and is tilted in the favour of China. With a deficit at $47 billion in the first nine months of this year, it the largest deficit India has with any country. There may be some cautiousness as Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar stressed on the need to have strategic fuel reserves to insulate the nation from supply shocks for at least a month, in the backdrop of the ongoing coal shortage at power plants in the country. Banking stocks will be in focus with a report that the government is likely to pump capital in public sector banks during the last quarter of the current financial year to meet the regulatory requirements. The government in the Budget 2021-22 has made an allocation of Rs 20,000 crore for the capital infusion in the state-owned banks. Also, the focus will be on Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) that is scheduled to announce its results for the September quarter (Q2FY22) later in the day. There will be some other earnings announcements too to keep the markets buzzing.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday as sentiments boosted by such high-profile stocks as Tesla Inc and Microsoft Corp but a tumble in IBM shares weighed on the Dow. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan last seen trading down 0.1 percent.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks closed lower for the third day in a row on weekly F&O expiry day, as index heavyweights such as Asian Paints, Reliance Industries and Infosys reeled under selling pressure. Key Indian indices slumped after opening in the green, as traders turned cautious with report stated that amid concerns about the rising oil prices, India, the world's third-largest energy consumer, has warned that high oil prices will undermine global economic recovery, and nudged Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to work towards affordable and reliable supplies. Petrol and diesel prices have shot up to record highs across the country after relentless price increases since early May. Some cautiousness also came as data showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,843.09 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,680.73 crore in the Indian equity market on Wednesday. However, markets managed to recover some lost ground in the last hour of trade, as some optimism remained among traders with Moody's Analytics in a report said that a rebound in industrial production and demand owing to easing mobility restrictions fuelled India's current recovery with production appearing to have regained lost ground during the second Covid-19 wave. However, it has flagged concerns around volatility in inflation caused by rising food and fuel prices. Some support also came with Ratings and Research’s (Ind-Ra) report stated that it witnessed a continuous recovery in the average current collection efficiency to 80 percent in August 2021 from 79 percent in July 2021 across its 143 rated securitisation transactions. It noted that there has been a 10 percentage point increase in the collection efficiency since May 2021 for all the outstanding transactions, after reducing by 13.4 percentage points from March-May 2021. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 336.46 points or 0.55% to 60,923.50 and the CNX Nifty was down by 88.50 points or 0.48% to 18,178.10.

  RELATED NEWS >>