Omkar Kamtekar Research Analyst , BONANZA PORTFOLIO LTD
Taking negative sentiment owing to the release of the FOMC minutes indicating more interest rate hike to fight inflation, the market opened on lower side with Sensex down by 41.48 points, or 0.06 percent, to 65,497.94, while the Nifty was down 21.00 points, or 0.11 percent to 19,444. The FOMC minutes also revealed that the Committee is still focused on inflation, with some participants arguing that rates should be raised to bring consumer prices back to the central bank's 2% objective, putting pressure on gold. The dollar index reached three-month highs and held over 103, while US 10-year bond rates topped 4.25%, pushing precious metal prices down.
Pyramid Technoplast, an industrial packaging manufacturer, will launch its initial public offering for subscription tomorrow. This would be the month's fourth public offering, following SBFC Finance, Concord Biotech, and TVS Supply Chain Solutions.
InterGlobe Aviation shares, which operate IndiGo, were trading flat on August 17 morning, a day after entrepreneur Shobha Gangwal sold her entire stake in the country's largest airline. Shobha Gangwal sold 38.41 lakh shares at an average price of Rs 2,426.21 per share on the open market, and another 38.41 lakh at an average price of Rs 2,440.92. She sold a third tranche of 38.41 lakh units at an average price of Rs 2,427.09 each. Gangwal sold 1.15 crore shares for Rs 2,802 crore, representing a 2.99 percent ownership. InterGlobe Aviation was rated "overweight" by Morgan Stanley in a prior study, highlighting its dominant market dominance, outstanding operational performance, and capacity expansions.
Due to a strong dollar and sluggish domestic markets, the Indian rupee dropped to a new 10-month low. In July, India's inflation rate was 7.44%, up from 4.87% in June and a prediction of 6.4%. We expect the rupee to trade with a bearish bias due to global risk aversion and a strong US dollar.
Benchmark indexes closed down with the Nifty falling below 19,400 due to selling in all sectors except PSU banks. The Sensex was down 388.40 points, or 0.59 percent, at 65,151.02 at the closing, while the Nifty was down 99.70 points, or 0.51 percent, at 19,365.30. Around 1777 shares rose, 1696 fell, and 152 were constant.
ITC, LTIMindtree, Divis Lab, Power Grid, and Reliance Industries were among the top losses on the Nifty, while Adani Ports, Titan Company, Adani Enterprises, Bajaj Auto, and SBI were among the top gainers.