Nifty settles below 24,000; Sensex slumps 942 pts; VIX rallies 5%

The key equity indices ended with major losses on Monday. The Nifty settled below the 24,000 level. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the red, with realty, oil & gas and metal stocks declining the most.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tanked 941.88 points or 1.18% to 78,782.24. The Nifty 50 index dropped 309 points or 1.27% to 23,995.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.31% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 1.65%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,375 shares rose and 2,705 shares fell. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied 5.01% to 16.70.

Economy:

The HSBC final Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 57.5 in October from an eight-month low of 56.5 in September. The flash reading was 57.4. A score above 50.0 indicates expansion.

Finally, manufacturers became more optimistic regarding future output volumes. The level of positive sentiment was above the average seen over the 13-and-a-half-year series history.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves declined by $3.463 billion to $684.805 billion in the week ended October 25, according to the latest data from the RBI. For the week ended October 25, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $4.484 billion to $593.751 billion.

Gold reserves increased by $1.082 billion to $68.527 billion during the week, the RBI said.

RBI has released monthly data on India's International Trade in Services for the Month of September 2024 on Thursday. The value of exports and imports of services during September 2024 stood at $32,579 million, up 14.6% on year and $16,507 million, up 13.2%, respectively.

New Listing:

Shares of Afcons Infrastructure settled at Rs 472.50 on the BSE, representing a premium of 2.05% as compared with the issue price of Rs 463.

The scrip was listed at Rs 430.05, exhibiting a discount of 7.11% to the issue price.

The stock has hit a high of 479.25 and a low of 419.85. On the BSE, over 37.90 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index dropped 2.87% to 980.10. The index gained 0.96% in the past trading session.

Brigade Enterprises (down 5.62%), DLF (down 4.05%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (down 3.78%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 3.07%), Phoenix Mills (down 3.07%), Godrej Properties (down 2.74%), Sobha (down 2.46%), Oberoi Realty (down 1.72%) and Macrotech Developers (down 1.41%) declined.

October Auto Sales:

Maruti Suzuki shed 0.55%. The car manufacturer announced that its total production increased marginally to 177,312 units in October 2024 as against 176,437 units recorded in October 2023.

Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 2.20% after the auto major's overall auto sales grew by 19.79% to 96,648 vehicles sold in October 2024 as against 80,679 vehicles sold in October 2023.

Further, the company's Farm Equipment Sector (FES) announced that its total tractor sales (domestic + exports) during October 2024 was at 65,453 units, up 29.71% from 50,460 units in October 2023.

Bajaj Auto fell 3.50%. The auto major reported 2% rise in total auto sales to 4,79,707 units in October 2024 as against 4,71,188 units in October 2023.

Eicher Motors slipped 2.34% after company's unlisted subsidiary, VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) reported 5% year on year decrease in commercial vehicles (CV) sales to 7,112 units in October 2024.

Further, the company said that it has sold highest ever monthly motorcycles sales in October 2024 at 1,10,574 units, which is higher by 30.96% as compared with 84,435 units in October 2023.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone slipped 3.22%. The company said that it had handled 37.9 MMT of total cargo in October 2024, which is higher by 2.43% as compared with 37 MMT of cargo handled in October 2023.

Hatsun Agro Product declined 4.54% after the company's net profit declined 17.08% to Rs 64.32 crore in Q2 FY25 as against Rs 77.57 crore posted in Q2 FY24. However, revenue from operations rose 8.74% to Rs 2,072.10 crore during the quarter ended September 2024 quarter as compared with Rs 1,905.40 crore posted in corresponding quarter last year.

Zen Technologies shed 0.92%. The firm reported standalone net profit of Rs 17.34 crore in Q2 FY25, zoomed 276.18% to Rs 65.23 crore posted in Q2 FY24. Revenue from operations spiked 277.44% year on year (YoY) to Rs 241.68 crore in the quarter ended September 2024.

Gensol Engineering rallied 3.24% after the company announced that it has secured a large turnkey EPC order worth Rs 780 crore from a leading public sector utility in Maharashtra.

Azad Engineering soared 7.50% after the company signed a long term contract & price agreement (LTCPA) worth Rs 700 crore with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan.

Welspun Corp shed 0.05%. The company said that it has received two large orders in the USA, cumulatively valued at approximately Rs 1300 crore for supply of coated HSAW pipes for natural gas pipeline projects.

Bharat Global Developers was locked in an upper circuit of 5% after the company announced that it has received a contract worth Rs 300 crore from McCain India Agro.

Global Markets:

European shares advanced while Most Asian stocks ended higher on Monday as investors geared up for a busy week that includes the U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.

Traders will also closely watch China's parliament meeting that kicked off on Monday. Chinese authorities are expected to announce more details on fiscal support when the meeting concludes on Friday.

Chinese stocks were upbeat as the National People's Congress Standing Committee began a four-day meeting. The body is expected to outline further fiscal spending measures.

In the US, the S&P 500 closed higher on Friday as a significant miss on job gains in the October payrolls report solidified expectations of a Fed rate cut next week. A rally in Amazon also lifted consumer stocks. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 5,728.8 points, the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.8% to 18,239.92 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.7% to 42,052.19 points.

The US economy added only 12,000 jobs in October, far below the expected 106,000 and a sharp decline from the revised 223,000 in September. However, these figures were impacted by recent hurricanes and ongoing labor actions. The softer-than-expected payrolls data has intensified expectations of further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

All eyes are on the Federal Reserve's meeting this week, where the central bank is widely anticipated to implement a 25-basis-point interest rate cut, following a 50-basis-point reduction in September.

After the market closed on Thursday, tech giants Apple and Amazon released their quarterly results. Apple's stock fell more than 1% after the company's revenue outlook for the current quarter was projected in the low- to mid-single-digit range, potentially signaling caution ahead of the holiday shopping season.

In contrast, Amazon's stock surged over 6% as the e-commerce giant reported an 11% year-over-year increase in overall quarterly revenue, benefiting from once-in-a-lifetime opportunities presented by generative AI.