Sensex Ends Lower, Posts Biggest Monthly Loss in Nearly 4 Years

BSE Sensex reversed early gains to end lower on Monday. Uncertainties over US Fed rate hike and concerns about China kept traders wary. The BSE Sensex lost 6.51 per cent in August and the Nifty shed 6.58 per cent, their worst monthly performance since November 2011.The rupee also slipped to 66.42/dollar at day's low, impacting the sentiment. Here are top 10 developments: 1) Analysts say that uncertainties about the Fed rate hike and China's economy will keep Indian markets under pressure in the short term. Mehraboon Irani of Nirmal Bang Securities said that the worst is yet to come for Indian markets while TS Harihar of HRBV Client Solutions Private said that 8,000 is likely to act as a resistance in the short term. 2) In a volatile session, the Sensex rose over 100 points at its day's high while fell nearly 180 at its day's high. The Sensex ended 109 points lower at 26,283 while Nifty settled 30 points to 7,971. 3) In China, the benchmark composite index, Shanghai Composite, lost 0.82 per cent. However, it recovered from morning losses of more than 3 per cent. Major European markets followed Asian markets lower with France's CAC 40 down over 1 per cent. Wall Street is also poised to open lower in the day with Dow futures down over 1 per cent. 4) Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, speaking at the central bank' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, recently said that volatility in global markets could ease and possibly pave the way for a rate hike. Earlier, a top Fed official said that a rate hike in September looks "less compelling" in the wake of concerns over global growth. 5) Global markets ended last week on a calmer note, helped by easing steps from the People's Bank of China and other government support measures, and hopes that the Fed would delay hiking rates following this month's tumult in financial markets. 6) Coming back to Indian markets, analysts say that unless buying from foreign institutional investors picks up, the gains in Indian markets may remain capped. Foreign institutional investors hold nearly 25 per cent of BSE 200 stocks. 7) Foreign investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 56 crore on Friday. In the previous seven sessions before Friday, they sold Indian shares worth nearly Rs 16,500 crore. In contrast, domestic institutional investors have been big buyers of Indian equities in the past few days, offering some support to Sensex and Nifty. 8) The value of the rupee would also be under focus with as it impacts the returns of foreign investors in dollar terms. During the previous week, the rupee pulled back from near two year lows of 66.76/dollar to end at 66.14/dollar on Friday. The rupee was lower at 66.37/dollar in recent trade. 9) Market analysts would also be watching for the April-June gross domestic product (GDP) data which is due to be announced at 5:30 p.m. today. The median estimate from a Reuters poll of economists put GDP annual growth at 7.4 per cent in June quarter, just below 7.5 per cent in January-March. 10) Apart from the GDP data, monthly auto sales numbers and August services and manufacturing data will also be released during this week. Besides global cues, these domestic data could dictate the trend in Indian markets in the short term, analysts say.

Sensex Ends Lower, Posts Biggest Monthly Loss in Nearly 4 Years

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