Market Indices End Flat As Worries Over Trade War And OPEC Decision Looms

Continuing its morning trend, the benchmark indices ended on a low note as the Benchmark S&P BSE Sensex lost 114.94 points or 0.32 per cent to close at 35,432.39, after shuttling between 35,678.69 and 35,396.97, during the day. The NSE Nifty 50 lost 30.95 points or 0.29 per cent to close at 10,741.10, after attaining a high of 10,809.65 during the session.

In the commodities sector, gold lost Rs 216 or 0.70 per cent and closed at Rs 30,565 per 10 grams, while Brent Crude lost Rs 68 or 1.52 per cent and stood at Rs 4,418 per bbl, at the time of filing this report.

A possible announcement by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase crude oil supply in world market has raised optimism. OPEC officials will meet at  Vienna on  June 22, where they are expected to discuss  to increse crude oil exports by one milion barrels, a new which will have a positive impact on the Indian markets. 

ICICI Bank led the gainers’ list in the BSE with 1.47 per cent, followed by Reliance (1.22 per cent), HDFC (0.35 per cent), Tata Motors (0.31 per cent), and Infosys (0.24 per cent). M&M, ONGC, Power Grid Corporation, SBI and Sun Pharma lost by 2.11 per cent, 1.90 per cent, 1.88 per cent, 1.67 per cent and 1.67 per cent, respectively.

At the NSE, oil companies Indian Oil Corp, BPCL and HPCL were top three gainers whereas M&M, Titan Company and Dr Reddy’s Labs were top three losers at the time of market closing.

In the global and Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.61 per cent while Hang Seng (Hong Kong), CAC 40 (France), DAX (Germany), Shanghai Composite (China) and FTSE 100 (United Kingdom) lost 1.35 per cent, 0.43 per cent, 0.97 per cent, 1.37 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively, at the time of writing the report.

“Trade war worries between China and the US is clouding the sentiment in global markets. The worry is that if tariffs continue to rise, it could slow down global growth and investor confidence, said V.K. Sharma, Head Private Client Group and Capital Market Strategy at HDFC Securities.  “However, the saving grace is that many issues like this either don’t end up happening, or they don’t happen in the worst-case scenario. A lot of what we’ve seen is just rhetoric.”

The S&P BSE MidCap and Small Cap Index had a bad day as MidCap lost 84.20 points or 0.53 per cent and stood at 15,767.70, while the Small Cap lost 130.88 points or 0.79 per cent to close at 16,528.17.

At BSE, HDFC Bank gained 2.15 points (0.10 per cent), whereas SBI, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank lost 4.45 points (1.67 per cent), 12.70 points (0.65 per cent) and 5.90 points (1.14 per cent), respectively, at the end of the day.