Indian share markets continued to trade on a positive note during closing hours of trade and ended the day on a strong note. Gains were largely seen in the realty sector and FMCG sector.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 317 points (up 0.9%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 81 points (up 0.8%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 0.3%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.4%.
Asian stock markets finished on a positive note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood up by 0.7% and the Nikkei was trading up by 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.9%.
European markets were trading on a mixed note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.27%. The DAX was down by 0.02% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.01%.
The rupee was trading at 71.56 to the US$ at the time of writing.
From the commodity space, crude oil was witnessing buying interest today as traders expected top exporter Saudi Arabia to push OPEC to cut supply towards the end of the year.
Note that OPEC's de-facto leader Saudi Arabia wants the cartel and its allies to cut output by about 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd), around 1.5% of global supply.
However, while OPEC is considering withholding supply, US crude oil production reached another record high last week at 11.7 million barrels per day (bpd), according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). So, this, on the other hand, is helping cap the sharp rise in crude oil prices.
Speaking of crude oil, India's crude oil production was lower by 4.2% in September 2018 as compared to last year.
The worrying factor is this was the lowest production this year.
Here's what Tanushree Banerjee wrote about it in one of the recent editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...
It would be interesting to see how this pans out. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.
From the banking space, Yes Bank share price was in focus today as a search panel entrusted with finding Rana Kapoor's successor to lead YES Bank has shortlisted multiple names. As per the news, the names include those serving foreign as well as domestic lenders.
The above development comes as last week Ashok Chawla stepped down as the bank's non-executive chairman.
The lender also witnessed buying interest today as ICRA Ratings retained its long-term rating of 'ICRA AA+' for the bank.
Speaking of corporate banks, Sarvajeet offers an interesting observation on a corporate bank stock.
Here's what he wrote in one of the recent editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...
Retail-focused banks such as HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra bank performed significantly better compared to corporate banks. One of the important reasons for this outperformance is stable asset quality. They could maintain gross NPAs below 1% in the previous five years.
Whereas corporate focused banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and SBI are facing serious asset quality issues. Not to mention, some of these banks had management issues as well. No wonder these banks not only underperformed retail-focused banks, but also the BSE Bank index as well.
But as I mentioned earlier, the worst is behind them.
We recommended a corporate bank in Smart Money Secrets.
Its aggressive clean-up of its corporate loan book, hiring the right people at the top, adoption of digital technology, and using algorithms in its core operations, bodes well for the bank and its stock. Smart Money Subscribers can access the report here.
If you do not have access to Smart Money Secrets, you can sign up here...
From the aviation sector, Jet Airways share price was also in focus today after Tata Sons said that while it is in preliminary discussions with Jet Airways, it is yet to make any formal proposal.
Apart from the above, as per a leading financial daily, reports that the airline had to cancel 10 domestic flights from Mumbai on Sunday due to operational reasons weighed down the stock.
Last week, it was reported that the board of Tata Sons is in the midst of a meeting to vet a proposal to buy out the cash-strapped Jet Airways, after which the share price of the company climbed up as much as 26%.
Reports last month had also stated that Jet Airways is trimming its workforce and operations further as it struggles through its financial crisis.
As per a leading financial daily, at least 15 people at manager or general manager level in departments such as engineering, security and sales have been asked to leave in October. It is also reported that the airline has grounded eight of its planes at the Mumbai and Chennai airports.
The company had also deferred announcing the June quarter numbers to an unspecified late date.
Amid rising concerns over the airline's financial health and proposed salary reductions for employees, Jet Airways chairman said a new committee would be set up to improve public perception.
Later, the company reported a whopping Rs 13.2 billion of net losses for the June quarter due to higher fuel cost, falling rupee and low fares. The company said it will monetize loyalty programme JetPrivilege and wet-lease some of its small aircraft to mobilise urgent working capital.
This was the second straight quarter of losses for the Naresh Goyal-run airline, which had last month publicly admitted to cash-flow issues. The airline had booked net profit of Rs 535 million in the year-ago period, while in the March quarter it had reported net losses of Rs 10.4 billion.
The airline said its fuel cost soared 53% to Rs 23.3 billion in the quarter, while low fares had revenue inching up to Rs 60.7 billion from Rs 59.5 billion.
On a consolidated basis, the net loss stood at Rs 13.3 billion, against a net profit of Rs 580 million a year ago.
The second back-to-back quarterly loss forced Jet Airways, which delayed the result announcement on August 9 indefinitely, to announce a turnaround plan which includes a capital infusion by selling a stake in JetPrivilege, and a massive cost-cutting to save around Rs 20-billion over the next two years.
To know more about the company, you can access to Jet Airways' latest result analysis and Jet Airways' 2017-18 Annual Report Analysis on our website.
It would be interesting to see how the above proposed acquisition deal finalizes. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.
To know more on what moved the Indian stock markets today, you can check out the most recent share market updates here.
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