Benchmarks trade sideways; auto shares under pressure

The headline equity indices continued to trade near the flat line in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,950 mark. Auto shares witnessed profit booking after advancing in the past five consecutive trading sessions. Trading was volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 23.82 points or 0.03% to 81,719.95. The Nifty 50 index rose 12.95 points or 0.05% to 24,964.10.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 82,129.49 and 25,078.30, respectively in early trade.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.13% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 1%. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index hit an all-time high at 48,840.75.

 

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,462 shares rose and 2,448 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's manufacturing sector continued to post impressive growth in July, despite slightly softer increases in new orders and output. Key positive developments seen in the latest results included one of the fastest expansions in international sales for over 13 years and another robust round of job creation. That said, buoyant demand also exerted pressure on prices.

Input costs rose at one of the quickest rates in nearly two years, which contributed to the steepest increase in selling prices since October 2013. At 58.1% in July, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was little changed from 58.3% in June and indicated a substantial improvement in the health of the sector. The latest reading was above the series long-run average and one of the highest seen in recent years.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index fell 1.05% to 26,405.85. The index rallied 5.83% in past five consecutive trading sessions.

Ashok Leyland (down 3.46%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.85%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.41%), Exide Industries (down 2.1%), Bosch (down 1.69%), Tata Motors-DVR (down 1.59%), Tata Motors (down 1.53%), Apollo Tyres (down 1.49%), MRF (down 1.24%) and Bharat Forge (down 0.94%) declined.

On the other hand, TVS Motor Company (up 2.1%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.89%) and Balkrishna Industries (up 0.61%) edged higher.

Mahindra & Mahindra declined 2.85%. The auto major announced that its overall auto sales rose marginally to 66,444 vehicles sold in July 2024 as against 66,124 vehicles sold in July 2023.

Bajaj Auto rose 0.48%. The company reported 11% increase in total auto sales to 3,54,169 units in July 2024 as against 3,19,747 units in July 2023.

Tata Motors slipped 1.53%. The car majors total domestic sales for July 2024 stood at 70,161 vehicles, registering de-growth of 11% compared to 78,844 units in July 2023.

Ashok Leyland slipped 3.46% after the company said that its total vehicle sales declined 8% to 13,928 units in July 2024 from 15,068 units in July 2023.

Escorts Kubota added 1.11% to Rs 4222 after the companys Agri Machinery Business Division recorded total tractor sales of 5,769 units in July 2024, which is higher by 3.6% as compared with the same period last year.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal grew 1.65% to 7.038 as compared with previous close 7.047.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.7450, compared with its close of 83.6800 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2024 settlement rose 0.39% to Rs 69,282.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.25% to 104.36.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 1.27% to 4.053.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for September 2024 settlement gained 54 cents or 0.67% to $81.38 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Prestige Estates Projects slipped 3.28% after the companys consolidated net profit fell 12.85% to Rs 232.6 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 266.9 crore recorded in Q1 FY24. However, revenue from operations grew 10.78% year on year (YoY) to Rs 1,862.1 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2024.

Navneet Education advanced 2.50% after the companys board approved buyback of upto Rs 100 crore at a price of Rs 200 per equity share.

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