Share Market Highlights: Nifty under 19300, Sensex sinks 0.6%; JFS ends with gains, Bank Nifty down 300 pts

“USDINR CMP- 82.67 (spot) Indian Rupee depreciated on Friday on strong Dollar and weak domestic markets. However, FII inflows cushioned the downside. The dollar rose on mixed to positive economic data from the US. Weekly unemployment claims declined to 230,000 as compared to 240,000 in the previous week.”

– Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Nifty closed at 19,265.8, over a hundred points lower, giving up the 19,300 mark. Sensex closed at 64,886.51, down by 365.83 or 0.56%.

“Both Nifty and Sensex gained around 0.1% in the past week. Mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the large-cap index. Macro sentiments remained volatile as surging bond yields and increasing global crude prices added to pressure. Global markets were broadly week, as (1) global bond yields increased and (2) concerns about Chinese growth amplified, based on weak data prints. Indian mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the large-cap index.”

– Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities

RIL’s demerged financial services arm Jio Financial Services hit its lower circuit for the fifth consecutive session. However, on Friday, the scrip managed to open the circuit and rise almost 5% to Rs 224.10. Since Jio has hit lower circuit for 2 consecutive days i.e., Thursday, August 24, 2023, and Friday, August 25, 2023, the removal of JFSL from all the S&P BSE Indices will be postponed by another 3 days. JFSL will now be removed (adjustment) from all the S&P BSE Indices on August 31, 2023.

Shoppers Stop share price slipped 11% in trade on Friday after the MD and CEO of Shoppers Stop Venu Nair resigned, effective from 31 August due to personal reasons. Kavindra Mishra, the Homestop head, has been promoted as executive director and CEO for a period of three years in his stead.

The share price of Paytm’s parent firm One97 Communications jumped 3.7% in trade on Friday as 3.6% of the company changed hands in large deals. Reports suggested that Promoter Antfin (Netherlands) Holding BV was likely to sell a 3.6% stake or nearly 23 million shares in One97 Communication at Rs 880.1 per share, or at a 2.7% discount to the last closing price.

“The index is hovering near the important and crucial support zone of 19270 levels which is also where the significant 50EMA lies, and as we have been mentioning, a decisive breach below the 19250-19270 zone shall weaken the overall bias and can trigger for further slide with next major support zone visible near 18800-18900 levels with 19000 as the psychological landmark in-between.”

– Vaishali Parekh, Vice President – Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher

Gold prices are still up around 0.80% so far this week and are on track to register their first weekly gain in the previous four weeks ahead of a key speech by the Federal Reserve Chair at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming, where he’s expected to offer clues on the interest-rate outlook. We expect gold prices to fluctuate in range before the Federal Reserve Chair Powell's speech at Jackson Hole. Volatility will likely expand post-event. Comex spot gold has support at $1895 and resistance at $1945. The MCX Gold October future is expected to trade in a range of 58450 to 59080.

– Saumil Gandhi, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities.

After experiencing the lower circuit for five straight sessions, Jio Financial shares show a positive trend as the circuit reopens after 5 days. The stock price is up 3.5% at Rs 221 apiece.

Rejection trades emerged as feared, on reaching the extended target of 19570 yesterday. The surprising depth of the pull back has renewed the prospects of 19060-18900 or even 18600-18300, as the downside objectives, but we pin our hopes on the 19280 region to step in and offer bargain buying support today. A direct fall below 19250 or inability to reclaim 19420 will signal resumption of the 18300 slide.

– Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Nifty 50 and Sensex fell upon open, with Nifty falling to lows of 19,260.75 on open while Sensex fell over 450 points to 64,799.66 in early trade.

Sensex ended the pre-open session at 65,000.67, down 250 points while Nifty ended under the 19300 level, down 90 points.

Investors are now waiting for a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday at a central bank summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for clues on the U.S. interest rates outlook. Data earlier Thursday showed claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pointed to a still-strong jobs market, news that some say could support the Fed's hawkish message of higher interest rates for longer. Investors also digested comments from Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker who said the Fed will need to keep rates restrictive for a while.

The National Stock Exchange has GMR Airports Infrastructure, GMR Airports Infrastructure, RBL Bank, Manappuram Finance, PNB, India Cements, Hindustan Copper, GNFC, BHEL, Delta Corp, GNFC, Metropolis Healthcare and Indiabulls Housing Finance securities on its F&O ban list for 25 August.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth net Rs 1,524.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth net Rs 5,796.61 crore on 24 August, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 1.5% higher, also lifted by Nvidia's bullish outlook. Still, the index is down about 8% so far this month due to weakness in China's economy and yuan, as well as some gloomy factory readings from Japan, which also left sentiment fragile. China stocks also rebounded on Thursday, however, with the blue-chip CSI300 index advancing 0.7%.

The three major U.S. stock indexes ended down more than 1% each on Thursday, led by a drop in the Nasdaq after this week's sharp gains and as investors were nervous ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech Friday, according to Reuters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%, the S&P 500 decreased by 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.9%.