Sensex, Nifty end with marginal gains; ZEEL surges 40%

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Domestic equity benchmarks settled marginally higher on Tuesday amid profit booking and subdued global cues. Sensex settled at 58,247.09, up 69.33 points or 0.12%, while Nifty advanced 24.70 points or 0.14% to 17,380.

“Despite a bullish opening, domestic indices closed flat with a positive bias amid mixed sentiments among global peers. India’s retail inflation softened to 5.3% in August, staying within RBI’s comfort zone which was led by lower food inflation. However, the wholesale price inflation accelerated to 11.39% snapping the two-month easing trend owing to non-food articles. Global markets traded cautiously ahead of the US consumer price index to be released today,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

Most sectoral indices closed in the green. Nifty Media, surging over 14%, was the top sectoral gainer followed by Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Auto. On the other hand, Nifty Metal, Nifty FMCG and Nifty finance ended in the red.

Broader market

The broader market continued its outperformance to benchmark indices. The BSE MidCap index scaled to a new peak of 25,093 and ended at record 25,053, up 270 points or 1.09%. Likewise, the BSE SmallCap index settled at a new high of 28,042, up 176 points or 0.63%. The index touched a new peak of 28,083 during the day.

Bulls had an upper hand in today’s session as 1,934 shares advanced, while 1,309 declined and 153 remained unchanged.

Economy

The annual rate of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based-inflation stood at 11.39% (provisional) for the month of August 2021 as compared to 0.41% in August 2020. The high rate of inflation in August 2021 is primarily due to rise in prices of non-food articles, mineral oils; crude petroleum & natural gas; manufactured products like basic metals; food products; textiles; chemicals and chemical products etc. as compared the corresponding month of the previous year.

India’s Consumer Price Index-based Inflation (CPI) for August 2021 came in at 5.30%, compared with 5.59% in July 2021, as food prices cooled further, especially in the case of vegetable inflation, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed on 13 September 2021.

Global markets

European markets trade mixed on Tuesday, 14 September 2021 as global investors await inflation data from the US, which could inform the Federal Reserve’s timing for tapering its monetary stimulus. European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Isabel Schnabel on Monday, said that the ECB is ready to act if inflation does not ease as soon as next year, as currently expected.

The fallout from Brexit continues trouble investors as Britain once again, on Monday, threatening to unilaterally suspend the Northern Ireland protocol, a key tenet of the withdrawal agreement, if the European Union does not budge on renegotiations to iron out implementation problems.

Asian stocks also traded mixed on Tuesday as investors look ahead to the release of U.S. consumer inflation data for August. In US, the S&P 500 closed higher on Monday, ending a five-day losing streak as investors focused on potential corporate tax hikes and upcoming economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also advanced, but the Nasdaq Composite Index ended lower.