Closing bell: The equity market edged up tracking Asian market gains on Thursday buoyed by hopes of a possible rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The broader NSE index was up 0.25 per cent at 11,946.75, while the BSE Index was up 0.17 per cent at 39,908.06.

The Sensex hit an intraday high of 39,979.10 and a low of 39,858.33. Similarly, the Nifty touched an intraday high of 11,969.25 and a low of 11,923.65. The market breadth was positive as 909 shares advanced, against a decline of 829 shares, while 351 shares were unchanged in NSE.

Among Nifty sectoral indices, PSU Bank index gained the most by 1.28 per cent, followed by Realty 0.91 per cent, Auto 0.47 per cent and Financial Servies 0.29 percent.

The Centre will unveil its first budget on Friday since winning a second term by a landslide in May. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has to battle slumping economic growth and high rates of unemployment. Economists expect her to take measures to boost domestic growth and rural consumption, among other things.

Cautious investors prefer blue-chips over small-cap due to economic slowdown

India's blue-chip shares are vastly outperforming those of smaller companies as investors avoid risky bets in a slowing economy, with the gap between the two groups at its widest in more than a decade.

The country's benchmark blue-chip indexes hit record highs last month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cruised to re-election, but the stock markets remain polarised.

While the blue-chip Nifty 50 has climbed about 12% in the last one year, the Nifty Smallcap 100 has slipped nearly 13%. The divergence between the two is at its widest since 2005.  Read more about investor preference here

NSE Sectoral indices

Economic Survey guided by ‘blue sky thinking’, says CEA Subramanian

Guided by the dictum of “blue sky thinking”, the Economic Survey 2018-19 on Thursday laid out the ambitious agenda of applying principles of behavioural economics to achieve 8 per cent of sustained GDP growth to make India a USD 5-trillion economy by 2024-25. Click here to read more

Economy moves to low level of inflation in last 5 fiscals: economic survey

The country’s inflation rate has moved to a more stable and low level in the last five fiscals, and controlling price surge remains a key policy focus area of the government, the Economic Survey for 2018-19 said Thursday.

Retail inflation based on consumer price index - Combined (CPI-C) fell to 3.4 per cent in 2018-19 from 3.6 per cent in 2017-18, 4.5 per cent in 2016-17, 4.9 per cent 2015-16 and 5.9 per cent in 2014-15, the Economic Survey 2018-19, tabled by Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, said. Read more here

Union Bank of India Gets new CFO

Monika Kalia, General Manager has been nominated as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the bank in place of B Sreenivasa Rao, General Manager w.e.f. July 3, 2019, the bank said in a BSE filing.

To stay afloat, sugar mills should focus on ethanol production: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said in the Lok Sabha that sugar mills should now focus on manufacturing ethanol instead of producing the sweetener.

He said sugar mills are not in good shape and are struggling.

“Do not start a sugar mill, even by mistake. They are in bad shape,” he said during the Question Hour.

Kalpataru seeks shareholders’ nod to raise borrowing limit to Rs 12,000 cr from Rs 10,000 cr

Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd has sought shareholders’ approval to raise the borrowing limit to Rs 12,000 crore from the existing Rs 10,000 crore in its annual general meeting scheduled for July 30.

“It is proposed that the board be authorised to create charge / mortgage / hypothecation on the properties of the company for the purpose of securing the borrowings availed by the Company of sums not exceeding Rs 12,000 crores over and above the paid-up share capital, free reserves and securities premium of the company,” a BSE filing said.

Banking sector performance improved due to fall in bad loans in 2018-19, says economic survey

The performance of banking sector has improved as bad loans declined in the last fiscal, but financial flows are constrained due to fall in money raised from capital markets and stress in the non-banking financial sector, the Economic Survey 2018-19 said Thursday.

The monetary policy witnessed a u-turn over the last year. The benchmark policy rate was first hiked by 50 basis points (bps) and later reduced by 75 bps due to weaker than anticipated inflation, growth slowdown and softer international monetary conditions, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while tabling the survey in Parliament. Read more here

IndiaMART InterMESH shares make robust debut; zoom over 21%

Shares of IndiaMART InterMESH, an online marketplace for business products and services, debuted on a strong note on Thursday, climbing over 21 per cent against its issue price of Rs 973.

The scrip listed at Rs 1,180, reflecting a huge gain of 21.27 per cent from the issue price on the BSE. It later touched a high of Rs 1,339, zooming 37.61 per cent.

On the NSE, shares opened the day at Rs 1,180.

Nifty call: Buy in dips with a fixed stop-loss at 11,950 levels

The domestic equity indices- the Sensex and the Nifty began the session in green and continued to trend upwards. The Asian markets are showing mixed cues while the US markets had closed last session on a positive note. The market breadth of the Nifty index is biased towards advances. The volatility index India VIX has declined 2.2 per cent to 13.39 levels. The Nifty PSU Bank index and Realty are witnessing buying interest and has gained 1.4 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.  Read more on the technicals here

Economic Survey pegs growth at 7% for FY20

The government on Thursday pegged the growth rate for the current fiscal at 7 per cent, marginally up from the five-year low of 6.8 per cent recorded in the previous fiscal. Read more here

Amid steel slump, Graphite India hints at production cut

Graphite India , among the country’s largest makers and suppliers of graphite electrodes, has hinted at a production cut amidst fears over a slowdown in the steel industry.

Graphite electrodes are used in the manufacture of steel through the arc-furnace route.

The Bangur family-controlled Graphite India is also amongst the largest manufacturers and suppliers of carbon and graphite specialty products in the country. Read more here

Nifty may test resistance in 11,983-12,000 range

The NSE index may test a resistance in the range of 11,983 and a psychological level of 12,000. The 11,983.31 level is the 23.6 per cent Fibonacci projection level of an uptrend from February 19 low to June 3 high.

There is another resistance at 11,989.51, the 76.4 per cent Fibonacci retracement level of wave (4) is also placed in this range. Click here to read more on technicals

Mindtree hits over 4-month low after L&T buys 60% stake

Shares of IT services firm Mindtree were down 1.7 per cent, their lowest since February 27.

The Bengaluru-based company on Wednesday said conglomerate Larsen & Toubro has bought a 60.06 per cent stake in the IT services firm

The development, which categorizes L&T as promoter in Mindtree, comes months after the IT service firm had rejected a hostile takeover bid from L&T. Click here to read more

As gold price surges, MFs hope for revival of investor interest in ETFs

The sharp rally in gold prices has revived investor interest in gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) and pushed up returns of these investments being managed by about 12 mutual fund houses.

Assets under gold ETF have gone up to ₹4,606 crore in May against ₹4,594 crore logged in April. Read more here

Rupee rises 6 paise to 68.83 vs US dollar in early trade

The rupee appreciated by 6 paise to 68.83 against the US dollar in opening trade Thursday, tracking positive opening in domestic equities and easing crude oil prices.

Forex traders said rupee is trading in a narrow range as market participants are awaiting cues from the Economic Survey scheduled to be tabled in Parliament Thursday.

The rupee opened strong at 68.86 at the interbank forex market then gained further to touch 68.83 per dollar, displaying gains of 6 paise over the previous closing.

Lupin gets booster from USFDA for cinacalcet

Lupin said on Wednesday said it has received approval for its cinacalcet tablets, 30 mg, 60 mg, and 90 mg from the USFaDA. It is indicated in the treatment of secondary hyper-parathyroidism in adult patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis; hypercalcemia in adult patients with parathyroid carcinoma; and severe hypercalcemia in adult patients with primary HPT who are unable to undergo parathyroidectomy. These tablets had annual sales of $1527 million in the US.

Oil prices edge down, pressured by US supply

Oil prices inched lower on Thursday after solid gains the day before, pressured by data showing a smaller-than-expected decline in United States (US) crude stockpiles.

Front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down 0.4 per cent at $63.60 per barrel by 0112 GMT. Brent closed up 2.3 per cent on Wednesday . Click here to read more

Andhra Pradesh to reconsider buying power from new green projects

The Andhra Pradesh government is considering scrapping its decision to enter into power purchase agreements for all upcoming clean energy projects. Read the fully story here

Broker's call: KEI Industries (Buy)

Indisbulls Ventures recommends `buy' call for KEI Industries. Read more on this here

Broker's call: Capacite Infraprojects (Buy)

Epic Research recommends `buy' call for Capacite Infraprojects. Read more on this here

Market opening: The equity indices opened green on Thursday and are trading flat. The Nifty index is trading above 11,900 level.

At 09:17 am, the Sensex is up 48.35 points or 0.12% at 39,887.60, and the Nifty rises 12.05 points or 0.10% at 11,928.80.

Earlier, Asian stocks advanced and trading in positive zone, tracking solid gains on Wall Street as data pointed to slowing economic growth in the United States, bolstering the prospect of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve as soon as this month.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%, while Japan's Nikkei and Australian benchmark were up 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, although a U.S. public holiday kept activity somewhat subdued.

On Wall Street, which closed at midday on Wednesday for the eve of Independence Day, all three major stock indexes finished at record closing highs as expectations of Fed policy easing grew.

Day Trading Guide for July 4, 2019

Given below are supports and resistances for Nifty 50 futures and seven key stocks that can help in your intra-day trading:

₹2489 • HDFC Bank

₹731 • Infosys

₹276 • ITC

₹166 • ONGC

₹1282 • Reliance Ind.

₹366 • SBI

₹2237 • TCS

11949 • Nifty 50 Futures

S1, S2 : Support 1 & 2; R1, R2: Resistance 1 & 2.

Today's Pick - Ashok Leyland (₹90.3): Buy

Investors with a short-term horizon can buy the stock of Ashok Leyland at current levels. The stock has been in a sideways consolidation phase in the band between ₹80 and ₹97 since February this year. In mid-May and June, the stock tested the key support at ₹80 and bounced up strongly. Within the sideways movement, the stock has been in a near-term uptrend over the last two weeks. Read the full technical analysis here

Asian stocks rally on expected Fed rate cuts; euro on defensive

Asian stocks advanced on Thursday, tracking solid gains on Wall Street as data pointed to slowing economic growth in the United States, bolstering the prospect of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve as soon as this month.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%, while Japan's Nikkei and Australian benchmark were up 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, although a U.S. public holiday kept activity somewhat subdued.

On Wall Street, which closed at midday on Wednesday for the eve of Independence Day, all three major stock indexes finished at record closing highs as expectations of Fed policy easing grew.