INDICES TRADE NEAR FLAT LINE; EUROPEAN MKT OPENS LOWER

The key equity benchmarks traded near flat line with minor gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,000 level after hitting the day`s high of 25,078.30 in early trade. Bank, oil & gas and financial services stocks advanced while realty, media and auto shares declined. Trading could be volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 27.73 points or 0.03% to 81,766.74. The Nifty 50 index rose 29.20 points or 0.12% to 24,980.35.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 82,129.49 and 25,078.30, respectively in early trade.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.69% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.65%. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index hit an all-time high at 48,840.75.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,575 shares rose and 2,275 shares fell. A total of 122 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India`s manufacturing sector continued to post impressive growth in July, despite slightly softer increases in new orders and output. Key positive developments seen in the latest results included one of the fastest expansions in international sales for over 13 years and another robust round of job creation. That said, buoyant demand also exerted pressure on prices.

Input costs rose at one of the quickest rates in nearly two years, which contributed to the steepest increase in selling prices since October 2013. At 58.1% in July, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers� Index (PMI) was little changed from 58.3% in June and indicated a substantial improvement in the health of the sector. The latest reading was above the series long-run average and one of the highest seen in recent years.

Gainers & Losers:

Power Grid Corporation of India (up 3.30%), Coal India (up 3.04%), NTPC (up 1.84%), Dr Reddy`s Laboratories (up 1.82%) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (up 1.68%) were major Nifty gainers.

Mahindra and Mahindra (down 2.57%), Tata Steel (down 2.20%), Tata Motors (down 1.09%), Larsen and Toubro (down 1.03%) and Hero Motocorp (down 0.80%) were major Nifty losers.

Coal India gained 3.04% after the coal major reported 4.1% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 10,959.47 crore in Q1 FY25 from Rs 10,528.03 crore in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations rose 1.59% to Rs 36,464.61 crore in the first quarter of FY25 from Rs 35,893.21 crore recorded in the same period last year.

Tata Steel fell 2.20%. The steel major�s consolidated net profit surged 51.37% to Rs 959.61 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 633.95 crore reported in Q1 FY24. Total revenue from operations fell 7.93% year on year (YoY) to Rs 54,771.39 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2024.

Tata Motors shed 1.09%. The car major�s total domestic sales for July 2024 stood at 70,161 vehicles, registering de-growth of 11% compared to 78,844 units in July 2023.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bank of Baroda shed 0.59%. The bank reported 9.53% increase in standalone net profit to Rs 4,458.15 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared with Rs 4,070.07 crore in Q1 FY24. Total income increased 7.49% YoY to Rs 32,115.95 crore in Q1 FY25.

Bharat Forge declined 1.08%. The company informed that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kalyani Strategic Systems (KSSL) has been granted defence license for manufacture of various defence products specially designed for military application at its Jejuri unit.

Sonata Software tumbled 7.58% after the company�s consolidated net profit declined 4.29% to Rs 105.63 crore in Q1 FY25 as against with Rs 110.36 crore posted in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations grew by 15.32% quarter on quarter (QoQ) to Rs 2527.43 crore in Q1 FY25.

GE T&D India hit an upper circuit of 5% after the company�s standalone net profit surged to Rs 134.54 crore during the quarter as compared with Rs 28.24 crore posted in corresponding quarter last year. Revenue from operations jumped 33.55% to Rs 958.34 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared with Rs 717.57 crore posted in Q1 FY24.

Global Markets:

European and Asian stocks declined on Thursday, led by a sharp decline in Japan after the Bank of Japan signaled further interest rate hikes. China`s market rebound also faltered as disappointing business activity data dampened investor sentiment.

Caixin purchasing managers index data on Thursday showed an unexpected contraction in China�s manufacturing sector. The reading came just a day after government PMI data showed a similar trend. The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers� index (PMI) fell to 49.8 in July from 51.8 the previous month, the lowest reading since October.

The region largely ignored a strong rally on Wall Street, where optimism about a potential September interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve and robust tech earnings boosted investor confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.24%, the S&P 500 gained 1.58% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.64%. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range on Wednesday but hinted at a possible rate cut in September if inflation cools down.

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