NIFTY50: 19,428 ▼ 114 (-0.5%)
SENSEX: 65,322▼ 365 (-0.5%)
Hello, friends!
If you’ve ever found a restaurant bill “hard to digest” after dining out, this story will suit your taste. A tourist who ordered a 7.5 euro sandwich at a cafe in Italy was charged 2 euros extra for getting the sandwich cut in half. The cafe really takes ‘cutting edge service’ quite literally! Meanwhile, even investors felt the pinch as the markets ended in the red. More on that later.
- Benchmark indices ended the week on a weak note, falling for the second straight day
- In all, 39 of the NIFTY50 stocks closed in the red
- As of 10 August, gross direct tax collection has grown 15.7% to ₹6.5 lakh crore in the current fiscal year
Among the NIFTY sectoral indices, PSU Bank (+1.2%) was the sole gainer today, while Media (-1.8%) and Pharma (-1.4%) were the top losers.
| Top gainers | Today's change |
| HCL Tech | 1,167 ▲ 33 (+2.9%) |
| Power Grid | 244 ▲ 2.4 (+1.0%) |
| Titan | 3,017 ▲ 20 (+0.9%) |
| Top losers | Today's change |
| IndusInd Bank | 1,395 ▼ 34 (-2.4%) |
| SBI Life | 1,308 ▼ 26 (-1.9%) |
| UPL | 598 ▼ 11 (-1.8%) |
What’s trending
⭐ PSU banks find favour in a weak market
The NIFTY PSU Bank index saw strong traction today, rising 1.2% despite weakness in the overall markets. All 12 constituents of the index closed in green, with Indian Overseas Bank rising over 14% after CARE Ratings assigned the CARE A1+ rating to the bank's proposed certificate of deposits worth ₹10,000 crore. Meanwhile, Central Bank of India, UCO Bank and Punjab Sind Bank rose in the range of 4% to 6% intraday.
⭐ HCL Tech rises on deal with Verizon
HCL Tech shares rose 2.9% after the IT major signed a $2.1-billion deal with Verizon Business to provide managed network services for its global enterprise customers. Under this collaboration, Verizon's networking scale will combine with HCL Tech's service capabilities to offer large-scale wireline service delivery. The global strategic partnership is positive news for HCL Tech after its June quarter results missed street estimates.
⭐ Zydus Lifesciences posts robust Q1
Zydus Lifesciences reported a 109% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit to ₹1,087 crore for the June quarter. Meanwhile, its revenue stood at ₹5,140 crore, up 30% YoY. The strong numbers are attributed to business growth in branded formulations and new product launches in the US and India. Despite upbeat results, the pharma major’s shares were down by 1%
⭐ Indus Towers achieves new milestone
Indus Towers announced that it has achieved a new milestone of 200,000 macro towers across all telecom circles. The tower company also added that its infrastructure will be on par with telecom operators as they accelerate 5G rollouts and network expansions. The company’s shares were up by 1.2%
In Focus
Retail investors flock to the markets
Retail investors seem to be betting big on Indian markets. In July 2023, inflows through the systematic investment plan or SIP route touched an all-time high of ₹15,245 crore as investors look to generate long-term wealth through steady mutual fund investment. During the same period, more than 30 lakh new demat accounts were opened showing rising interest of investors in stock markets. What are the key factors behind this trend? Let’s explore.
Positive market momentum
Investors are flocking to mutual funds mainly due to upbeat momentum in the domestic markets. In recent months, Indian markets have given decent returns to investors, with the NIFTY50 rising 7.3% so far in 2023.
Besides this, the outlook for the Indian economy continues to remain strong, with the RBI estimating the economy to grow at 6.5% in FY24. Experts believe that the robust economic outlook is likely to reflect in stock market returns as well. In addition, rising awareness about savings and benefits of investing for long-term growth has also spurred retail investments.
As a result, total assets under management (AUM) through SIP route surge to 8.32 lakh crore. Meanwhile, more than 33 lakh new SIP accounts were registered in July 2023. Moreover, the overall AUM of the mutual fund industry stood at 46.3 lakh crore, up 22% YoY.
Demat accounts scale new peak
Other than mutual funds, investors are also taking direct exposure to the stock markets as indicated by demat account openings. More than 30 lakh demat accounts were opened in July, which was the highest in the last 18 months as per data released by CDSL and NSDL.
As per experts, increase in demat account is owing to the young population making their first move towards equity markets. Other than this, higher interest in equity markets from Tier-2 cities as well as the ease of account opening due to digitisation.
Despite these high numbers, stock market penetration in India is less than 5%, compared to 55% in the US and 13% in China. Hence, more retail participation is expected going forward.
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