Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on Thursday marking the fifth straight session of gains. Key indices made a negative start in early deals. Some pessimism also came as a private report stated that India’s economy will grow below its potential over the next two years, with inflation staying above the mid-point of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance band amid recent interest rate hikes. Traders feared when Fitch Ratings said that India’s external finances are getting weaker but will manage risks emerging from abroad.

“On the daily timeframe, the Nifty formed bullish candle pattern near Gap support of 17,400 mark indicating positive undertone of the index for the short to medium term,” Vidnyan Sawant, AVP – Technical Research at GEPL Capital said.

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Indian Indices

The Sensex jumped 95.71 points or 0.16% to 59,202.90 while the Nifty surged 51.70 points or 0.3% to 17,563.95 at the close of trading on Thursday. The Sensex moved in a high-low band of 59,273.85 and 58,791.28. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining. The Nifty traded in a range of 17,584.15 and 17,421.00. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended mixed with the BSE MidCap index down by 0.30% while the SmallCap index was down by 0.01%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE, Oil & Gas was up by 1.69%, Utilities was up by 1.66%%, Power was up by 1.50%, Energy was up by  1.39% and IT was up by 1.20%. While Consumer Durables by 0.78%, Bankex by 0.59%, Capital Goods by 0.52%, Financial Services by 0.34% and Industrials by 0.31% were the top losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

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India VIX Index

Nifty or India VIX, a gauge of the market’s expected volatility over the near term, fell 1.46% to 17.23 on Thursday.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India with a 1 point loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,519.0 on the Singaporean Exchange at around 08:00 hours IST.

Support and Resistance level

The key support level for the Nifty is placed at 17,461, followed by 17,422 & 17,360. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,585 followed by 17,624 and 17,686, according to pivot charts.

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US Markets 

The S&P 500 fell 29.38 points, or 0.8%, to 3,665.78 on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 90.22 points, or 0.3%, to 30,333.59.

The Nasdaq fell 65.66 points, or 0.6%, to 10,614.84.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 21.36 points, or 1.2%, to 1,704.39.

Asian Markets

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday. Hang Sang was down by 1.40%, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.92%, KOSPI Composite was down by 0.86%, and Shanghai Composite settled down by 0.31%.

European Markets

European markets finished higher yesterday with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 was up 0.76% while London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.27% and Germany’s DAX was up 0.20%.

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Major Headlines

Bajaj Finance Q2 Results: Net profit jumps 88% to Rs 2,781 crore

India’s leading non-banking financial company on Thursday reported its performance for the second quarter of the financial year 2022-23. The company reported a net profit of Rs 2,781 crore, a hike of 88% against its net profit of Rs 1,481 crore in the corresponding quarter of the financial year 2021-22.

The net profit jumped by 7% from Rs 2,596 in the first quarter of this financial year. The company had witnessed its highest-ever consolidated profit after tax (PAT), it stated in an exchange filing.

The net interest income (NII) jumped by 31% year-on-year to Rs 7,001. Asset quality also improved against the previous quarter and the previous fiscal year. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) reported by the company were 1.17%, while net non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 0.44%.

Indian rupee hits fresh all-time low of 83.06 against US dollar

The rupee fell 6 paise to a record low of 83.06 versus the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, owing to a strengthened greenback overseas and continued outflows of foreign funds.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit began weakly versus the dollar at 83.05, then fell further to 83.06, a 6-paise drop from its previous close. In early trading, the local currency reached a high of 83.07. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback vs a basket of six currencies, increased by 0.07% to 113.06.

Bulk Deal data

Wisdomtree India Ex State-Owned Enterprises Fund sold 15,87,756 shares in PTC India Limited at Rs 72.26 per share on the NSE.

Shaibal Ghosh bought 80,001 shares in Kshitij Polyline Limited at Rs 228.57 per share on the NSE.

Niraj Rajnikant Shah bought 3,06,411 shares in LNorth East Carry Corp Ltd at Rs 28.33  per share on the NSE.

Manish Mittal HUF sold 61,000 shares in AVRO INDIA LIMITED at Rs 120.12 per share on the NSE.

Bhavesh Kirti Mathuria sold 1,00,800 shares in Atal Realtech Limited at Rs 51.55 per share on the NSE.

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DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought shares worth a net of Rs 1,864.79 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 886.80 crore on October 20, as per data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

BHEL, Delta Corp Ltd, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and India Cements have been placed under the F&O ban for October 21. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.