Sensex Trades Flat; Pharma Sector Witnesses Selling

Fri, 3 Nov 01:30 pm

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After opening the day in green, share markets in India witnessed choppy trades and are currently trading marginally above the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the capital goods sector leading the gains. Stocks in the are trading in red.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 65 points (up 0.2%), and the NSE Nifty is trading up by 20 points (up 0.2%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.8%. The rupee is trading at 64.59 to the US$.

In news from the global financial markets. The Bank of England (BOE) raised interest rates for the first time in a decade to head off rising inflation putting the squeeze on UK households.

The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7-2 in favour of increasing the base rate from 0.25% to 0.5%. The minutes underscored worries that the economy is fragile as the 2019 split with the European Union nears. However, the minutes also indicated that further rate increases will be limited and that the central bank is in no hurry to raise interest rates again.

The bank kept its forecasts for growth and inflation broadly unchanged and sees price gains at 2.2% in three years, slightly above its 2% target. The estimates are based on market projections for the key interest rate reaching 1% over that period.

The bank kept its bond programs unchanged and reiterated that any future interest-rate increases will be limited and gradual.

Meanwhile, the US Fed kept interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting this week. However, it did indicate a hike by the end of this year.

Monetary policy changes in both the US and UK affect their respective domestic markets as well as the global markets as a whole. However, rate hike or not, at Equitymaster we do not attempt to predict how and when macroeconomic developments will unfold. Instead, we focus on the fundamentals and understanding the underlying business strength of companies.

In fact, the ValuePro team is always on the lookout for all-weather stocks whose fortunes are not tied to economic cycles.

Moving on to news about the economy. India's services sector activity continued to expand, after it was impacted by the implementation of the goods and service tax (GST) regime in July. India's dominant services industry activity expanded at its fastest pace in four months in October as demand continued to strengthen despite accelerating price pressures. The country's predominant sector witnessed expansion for the second consecutive month, according to the Nikkei Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey by Markit.

The Services PMI is the reading of the country's services sector output and is updated monthly. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while any score below the mark denotes contraction.

A second consecutive rise in new business resulted in another monthly increase in activity. The services PMI for October finished at 51.7 from 50.7 in September, signaling steady recovery from 45.9 in July, immediately post the GST implementation.

Services PMI Charts Steady Recovery

The service sector reported the fastest rise in new business since June. In order to meet the added demand, service providers hired more for the second month in succession, but the rate of job creation slowed from September.

The latest services PMI follows the manufacturing one announced on Wednesday, which showed that factory activity in India lost steam in October.

Although service providers retained an optimistic outlook regarding activity over the coming 12 months, the level of business confidence fell to the lowest since June.

On the price front, firms raised prices at a sharper rate to end-consumers than their costs rose, signaling a pickup in inflation over coming months.

Retail inflation held steady at an annual pace of 3.3% in September, below the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4%.

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