Amid fag-end buying markets closed in Green; Sensex gains 149 points & Nifty ends at 17,992

After trading in the red for the most part of the session, the domestic stock markets ended with a gain of more than 0.20 per cent on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. Fag-end buying occurred in public sector banks, FMCG and auto stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 148.53 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 60,284.31. The Nifty 50 rose 46 points or 0.26 per cent to 17,991.95. Both the indices had hit intra-day lows of 59,885.39 and 17,864.95, respectively. The Nifty Bank index closed 227.70 points or 0.59 per cent higher at 38,521.50.

In the broader market the BSE, the S&P BSE MidCap rose 0.65 per cent and S&P BSE SmallCap gained 0.26 per cent. In the sectorial index at NSE, the Nifty PSU Bank index rose 3.08 per cent, the Nifty FMCG index rose 1.22 per cent and the Nifty Auto index gained 0.88 per cent.

The NSE's VIX index, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 1.47 per cent to 15.85.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1790 shares rose and 1551 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index on the NSE, 31 shares advanced and 19 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Titan (up 6.08 per cent), Bajaj Auto (up 3.29 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (up 2.96 per cent), State Bank of India (down 2.93 per cent) and Divi's Laboratories (down 2.74 per cent). The top five losers on the index were HCL Technologies (down 3.75 per cent), HDFC Life (down 1.92 per cent), Coal India (down 1.73 per cent), Tech Mahindra (down 1.60 per cent) and UltraTech Cement (down 0.92 per cent).

International Markets

Asian markets traded lower today, as a global energy crunch fuelled inflation fears and concerns about Evergrande's debt problems intensified, clouding investor sentiment before the US corporate earnings season. So, Japan's Nikkei-225 index fell 0.9 per cent; China's Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3 per cent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 1.5 per cent; South Korea's Kospi index dropped 1.4 per cent at the close and Singapore's Straits Times index had shed 0.1 per cent.

In Europe, market share lost ground today as investors feared that soaring commodity prices would hamper a recovery in corporate profit, amid fresh signs of troubles at property developer China Evergrande. So, London's FTSE-100 had shed 0.5 per cent; Germany's DAX had lost 0.4 per cent; while France's CAC-40 had fallen 0.3 per cent, in intra-day trade.

US markets fell yesterday, in a choppy session as soaring oil prices that hit multi-year peaks stoked fears about rising prices and tighter monetary policy.

A rally in basic material and energy shares on higher oil prices initially lifted major US stock indices. But the gains faded as investors focused on the start of the US corporate earnings season next week.

Some analysts anticipate businesses reporting slowing growth due to supply-chain snags and rising prices. They warned that this could lead to a drop in US stocks.

So, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 250 points, or 0.7 per cent, to close at 34,496. The S&P 500 fell 30 points, or 0.7 per cent, to end at 4,361. And the Nasdaq Composite dropped 93 points, to 14,486.

Economy

Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to restore the scheduled domestic air operations from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction.

The decision was taken after the review of the current status of scheduled domestic operators and passengers' demand for air travel. The Ministry said, the airlines and airport operators shall however ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19 are strictly adhered to and Covid appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during the travel.

British companies pushed the number of workers on payrolls above pre-Coronavirus levels last month, an indication of strength in the labour market that may embolden the Bank of England to raise interest rates. Payrolls climbed by a record 207,000 last month, according to data from the UK tax authority. Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics showed job vacancies rose to 1.2 million, also an all-time high. The figures suggest a robust recovery in employment is likely to absorb many of the 1 million workers who remained on furlough as the government ended the programme last month. Policymakers on the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee are scrutinising the data as they weigh when to raise rates, with financial markets pricing in a move in December.

"The recent hawkish tone from MPC members suggests inflation concerns are now firmly front of mind, lowering the bar for rate increases," said a strategist at an asset management company. "A decent October jobs report could open the door to a hike as soon as the December meeting." Payrolls were driven by hiring in the hospitality industry and at employment agencies. Underlying wage growth rose to between 4.1 per cent and 5.6 per cent in the three months through August, well above the 3 per cent prevailing before the pandemic.