Mr. Vikas Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
Indian equities ended on a positive note after lower-than-expected inflation data. Nifty was up 0.8% while broader markets out-performed the main index as Nifty Mid Cap and Nifty Small Cap gained 1.2% and 1.4% respectively. All of the sectoral indices ended in green. Nifty IT (+4.5%), Nifty Media (+3.9%) and Nifty Metal (+1.4%) were the major gainers.
US stocks and government bond prices rose after data provided further signs that inflation in the world's largest economy is cooling. Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.8%, building on gains that carried it to a 15-month high in the previous session. The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite added 1.6%. The Dow was up 0.1%. The benchmark 10-year yield fell 0.1 percentage points to 3.76%. Figures on Wednesday showed that consumer price rises were also lower than forecast. Separate jobs data, however, highlighted that the labour market remains tight, with jobless claims falling by 12,000 to 237,000 in the week to July 8.
The earnings season will pick up pace in the coming days. The economy, is getting a capex push from India Inc as companies get down to pumping up spend amid rising demand. Meanwhile, India's consumer price index (CPI) inflation rises for the first time in five months to 4.81% in June 2023. The rise in inflation is higher than the street's expectations of 4.58%, nevertheless, the CPI print is still below RBI's upper tolerance limit of 6%. CPI was pushed higher than expected due to a less supportive base and the onset of a surge in vegetable prices. Food inflation spiked to 4.49% in June.