Uncertainty over India-US trade deal, fears of weak Q1 leads to market fall; Sensex down 690 points
By Sunil Kumar Batra
New Delhi, Jul 11 (BVI): Uncertainty over India-US bilateral trade deal and weak start of earning season in the Q1 kept the stock market on edge as the benchmark indices ended in red today. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost nearly 690 points to close at 82,500 and the Nifty also closed with a loss of over 205 points over its previous close. Even as the Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities in the cash segment for more than Rs 3550 crore, major sell off by the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to the tune of over Rs 5,100 crore failed to save the day for the market.
According to market sources, the investors remained cautious as uncertainty loomed over the India-US bilateral trade agreement. According to sources the two countries continue to have differences over tariffs in agriculture and automobile sectors. A team of the commerce ministry may soon visit Washington for another round of talks on the proposed trade agreement with the US to iron out differences. The US has extended the timeline for imposition of import duties till August 1. But recent actions by President Donal Trump like imposition of 35 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and proposed broader 15-20 per cent tariffs on other trade partners has upped the concerns globally.
In the 30-share Sensex shares of only eight companies ended in green with marginal gains over their previous close while shares of 22 listed firms ended in red.
The FIIs had bought equities in the cash segment worth Rs 221.06 crore during the last trading session (yesterday), while the DIIs had bought equities to the tune of Rs 591.33 crore, according latest data available.
FMCG Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank and Zomato were major gainers in today’s trade and heavy weights like Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, L&T and Bajaj Finance were among the losers.
According to market analysts TCS results were lower than expected even as it registered a growth of 6 per cent in its net profit but the revenues from operations grew modestly at 1.3 per cent. The company has attributed muted revenue growth to global headwinds, but this indicates continuing struggle for the IT companies especially in the large-cap IT firms.
Climb in Crude Oil Prices to USD 68.88 a barrel (Brent crude futures) following possibility of fresh sanctions on Russia has also led to negative sentiments among investors. India depends heavily on crude imports and any such action may have an impact on the stock market in the coming week.
