Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets settled in red terrain for yet another session on Thursday with minor cut even after optimistic HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data. Traders monitored Q2FY25 earnings during the day. Persistent selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) dampened the sentiment. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index ended in red, while Small cap index closed with cut of over half a percent.

Markets made cautious start and turned volatile tracking the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight as well as weakness in Asian counterparts. Traders were cautious as Member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Sanjeev Sanyal stated that artificial intelligence (AI) will both create and destroy jobs and a lot depends on how it is adopted. He claimed AI will impact highly skilled people and functions will be disintermediated. Investors ignored minutes of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy committee's latest meeting stated that India's food inflation expected to ease by Q4 of fiscal year 2024-25 on better kharif arrivals and rising prospects of a good rabi season, despite a significant pick-up in September inflation print. In afternoon session, indices traded just below neutral lines. Traders failed to take support with survey showing that growth in India's business activity picked up slightly in October after softening last month, led by stronger demand in the manufacturing sector. It also showed job creation rose at the fastest pace since February 2006. HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 58.6 this month from September's final reading of 58.3, which was a 10-month low. In late afternoon session, markets trimmed most of their losses and ended near neutral lines. 

On the global front, European markets were trading higher after a business survey showed German business activity contracted less steeply than the previous month in October. The HCOB Preliminary German Composite Output Index came in at 48.4 in October versus 47.5 in September. Asian markets ended mostly in red as rising yields on uncertainty over the U.S. election outcome weighed on the tech sector. Tesla's forecast-beating earnings provided some comfort for investors, helping limit regional losses. Back home, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India wants to enhance its influence in the world as one in every six persons is Indian and the world cannot ignore India's economy.

The BSE Sensex ended at 80,065.16, down by 16.82 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 79,813.02 and 80,259.82. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.13%, while Small cap index was down by 0.72%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.69%, Bankex up by 0.54%, Utilities up by 0.48%, Healthcare up by 0.43% and Power was up by 0.42%, while FMCG down by 2.66%, Realty down by 1.21%, Telecom down by 1.02%, IT down by 0.64% and Industrials was down by 0.62% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.77%, Titan Company up by 1.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.35%, SBI up by 1.15% and Adani Ports &Special up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 5.83%, Nestle down by 2.88%, ITC down by 1.81%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.61% and Asian Paints down by 0.86% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the latest HSBC ‘flash’ PMI survey compiled by S&P Global has showed that India's private sector economy continued to showcase robust growth in October. The survey noted that a quicker upturn in new work intakes encouraged companies to scale up business activity and recruit additional workers. The uptick in growth momentum was accompanied by an intensification of price pressures. The manufacturers outperformed service providers regarding rates of expansion for output and sales, and also recorded faster increases in input costs and selling charges. Meanwhile, hiring was stronger in the service sector.

According to survey report, the HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index - a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors - stood at 58.6 in October, which was inside growth territory (above 50.0) for the thirty-ninth successive month. Moreover, the headline figure rose from a final reading of 58.3 in September and outpaced its long-run average of 54.7. The acceleration in growth was supported by quicker increases in factory production and services activity.

Besides, the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI - a single-figure snapshot of factory business conditions calculated from measures of new orders, output, employment, supplier delivery times and stocks of purchases - recovered from September's eight-month low of 56.5 to 57.4 in October. Registering well above the series trend, the latest figure was consistent with a substantial improvement in the health of the sector. Meanwhile, trends for business confidence were mixed at the sub-sector level. Manufacturers were at their most upbeat since July, while sentiment somewhat faded at services companies. For the private sector overall, the degree of optimism receded but remained above its long-run average.

The CNX Nifty ended at 24,399.40, down by 36.10 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 24,341.20 and 24,480.65. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 2.70%, Shriram Finance up by 1.48%, Titan Company up by 1.29%, Grasim Industries up by 1.27% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 5.80%, SBI Life down by 4.70%, Hindalco down by 3.68%, Nestle down by 2.94% and Bajaj Auto down by 2.68% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 52.01 points or 0.63% to 8,310.65, France’s CAC rose 50.31 points or 0.67% to 7,547.79 and Germany’s DAX was up by 103.18 points or 0.53% to 19,480.80. 

Asian markets settled mostly down on Thursday tracking Wall Street’s fell overnight with uncertainty ahead of outcome of the November 5 US presidential election and bets the US central bank will take a more measured approach on interest rate cuts. Seoul shares declined on tech losses and data revealed South Korea narrowly avoided a technical recession in the third quarter, growing just 0.1% on-quarter far below the market expectations of 0.5% gain. Chinese shares dropped on concerns that the US-China tech war will escalate regardless of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election. Although, Japanese shares gained as the yen weakened against the US dollar after BoJ governor Kazuo Ueda said it is becoming difficult to judge how large future rises in borrowing costs will be.