Trading for the week ends on negative note
A weak start to the earnings season weighed on the bourses, with the two key benchmark indices registering small to modest losses. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 105.61 points or 0.38% to settle at 27,836.50. The losses for the Nifty 50 index were lower in percentage terms than those for the Sensex. The Nifty fell 23.60 points or 0.28% to settle at 8,541.40. The Sensex failed to hold the psychologically important 28,000 mark after moving past that mark in early trade. Index heavyweight and IT major Infosys tumbled after the company reduced revenue growth guidance in constant currency terms at the time of announcing its Q1 June 2016 results during trading hours. IT stocks fell almost across the board after Infosys cut revenue growth guidance for the full year.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC moved higher after the company announced successfully raising Rs 3000 crore in first overseas issue of rupee denominated bonds by an Indian company. Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro edged higher after the company's announcement that it has decided to participate in the offer for sale of equity shares by way of initial public offering (IPO) by L&T Technology Services. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries eked out small gains ahead of the announcement of its Q1 June 2016 results.
NTPC edged lower on reports that the company's employees have resorted to heavy selling of shares after lock-in period post subscription to the company's shares in the offer for sale held in February this year.
The Sensex fell 105.61 points or 0.38% to settle at 27,836.50, its lowest closing level since 13 July 2016. The Sensex dropped 206.24 points or 0.74% at the day's low of 27,735.87. The barometer index rose 106.59 points or 0.38% at the day's high of 28,048.70.
The Nifty fell 23.60 points or 0.28% to settle at 8,541.40, its lowest closing level since 13 July 2016. The Nifty fell 54.95 points or 0.64% at the day's low of 8,510.05. The index gained 29.80 points or 0.35% at the day's high of 8,594.80.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,679 shares fell and 997 shares rose. A total of 200 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.09%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.74%. The fall in this index was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3904 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3097.36 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Bank stocks witnessed a mixed trend. Among PSU bank stocks, Vijaya Bank (up 3.28%), Punjab National Bank (up 2.33%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.37%) and Canara Bank (up 0.74%) rose. Dena Bank (down 1.09%), State Bank of India (SBI) (down 0.19%), Andhra Bank (down 0.96%), and Union Bank of India (down 0.39%), IDBI Bank (down 2.1%) and Bank of India (down 2.31%) fell.
Among private bank stocks, Axis Bank (up 0.71%), IndusInd Bank (up 0.93%) and Yes Bank (up 0.75%) rose. Federal Bank (down 1.6%), ICICI Bank (down 1.19%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.08%) fell.
Index heavyweight HDFC Bank rose 2.06% at Rs 1,225. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,226.35 in intraday trade, which is record high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 1,195.25 in intraday trade.
IT major and index heavyweight Infosys slumped after the company trimmed revenue growth guidance for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017) at the time of announcing its Q1 June 2016 results during trading hours. The stock lost 8.9% at Rs 1,071.20. The stock hit high of Rs 1,195 and low of Rs 1,058.30 in intraday trade. In constant currency terms, the company has forecast 10.5%-12% growth in revenue for FY 2017. This is lower than 11.5%-13.5% growth that the company forecast at the time of announcement of Q4 March 2016 and FY 2016 results on 15 April 2016.
Infosys consolidated net profit fell 4.5% to Rs 3436 crore on 1.4% growth in revenue to Rs 16782 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said in a statement that the company witnessed unanticipated headwinds in discretionary spending in consulting services and package implementations as well as slower project ramp-ups in large deals, resulting in a lower than expected growth in Q1 June 2016.
TCS fell 2.99% after consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) fell 0.4% to Rs 6317 crore on 3% rise in revenue to Rs 29305 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. Operating income fell 0.9% to Rs 7347 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 14 July 2016.
Most other IT stocks declined after IT major Infosys trimmed revenue growth guidance for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017) at the time of announcing its Q1 June 2016 results. Wipro (down 2.58%), Persistent Systems (down 3.06%), MphasiS (down 0.6%), HCL Technologies (down 1.44%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.69%), Tech Mahindra (down 2.98%) and Hexaware Technologies (down 4.11%) fell.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC moved higher after the company announced successfully raising Rs 3000 crore in first overseas issue of rupee denominated bonds by an Indian company. The stock rose 1.8%. The unsecured rupee denominated bonds carry a fixed semi-annual coupon of 7.875% per annum and has a tenor of 3 years and 1 month. The bonds have been issued at a price of 99.24% of the par value and will be redeemed at par. The all-in annualised yield to the investors is 8.33% per annum. This is a rupee based transaction and there is no foreign exchange exposure for HDFC. The bonds will be listed on the London Stock Exchange and cannot be traded in the local Indian market. The issue proceeds would be used for the housing finance business of HDFC as well as for general corporate purposes.
Meanwhile, the HDFC stock turned ex-dividend today, 15 July 2016, for final dividend of Rs 14 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016). Before turning ex-dividend, the stock offered a dividend yield of 1.05% based on the closing price of Rs 1,336.25 on yesterday, 14 July 2016.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro rose 1.42% to Rs 1,586 after the company's announcement that it has decided to participate in the offer for sale of equity shares by way of initial public offering (IPO) by L&T Technology Services. The company proposes to sell up to 15% of the equity shares held in L&T Technology Services through the IPO. L&T Technology Services has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on 15 July 2016 in order to undertake an initial public offering of its equity shares. The IPO comprises an offer for sale of up to 10.40 crore equity shares of the face value Rs 2 each by Larsen & Toubro. L&T Technology Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of L&T, is a pure play global engineering, research and development services company.
The decision to sell 15% of stake in L&T Technology Services comes two days after L&T's IT subsidiary L&T Infotech received strong response from investors for its initial public offer (IPO) which concluded on Wednesday, 13 July 2016. IT outsourcing services provider L&T Infotech's IPO received bids for 14.31 crore shares compared to 1.22 crore shares on offer. The IPO was subscribed 11.69 times.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.61% to Rs 1,012.55 ahead of its Q1 June 2016 results today, 15 July 2016. The stock hit high of Rs 1,020.65 and low of Rs 1,003.85 in intraday trade.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) dropped 1.18%. The company during market hours today, 15 July 2016, announced that it has successfully commissioned another 250 megawatts (MW) thermal unit based on eco-friendly circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology, using low quality coal (lignite) as the primary fuel. The lignite based thermal unit has been commissioned at Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose 1.38% after India Ratings & Research has assigned final 'IND AA+' rating with Stable Outlook for the NCDs of Rs 252 crore. Earlier on 28 June 2016, India Ratings & Research had assigned "Provisional IND AA+” rating with a stable outlook for proposed Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of Rs 500 crore to the company. The announcement was made during market hours today, 15 July 2016.
Tata Steel gained 3.8% to Rs 372.85, with the stock extending its recent winning streak. Recent rally in the stock materialized after the company's announcement that it has entered into discussions with strategic players in the steel industry, including Thyssenkrupp AG for a strategic collaboration for its European businesses. The decision had been taken as an alternative to the ongoing process for the divestment of loss making Tata Steel UK, the company said.
Meanwhile, T.V. Narendran, managing director of Tata Steel India and South East Asia was recently quoted by the media as saying that the company has plans for further expansion of its greenfield steel project in Kalinganagar in Odisha. Narendran reportedly said that for next 3 years Tata Steel will focus on ramping up Kalinganagar facility and targets a production capacity of 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) out of this facility.
NTPC lost 1.2% to Rs 156.35 on reports that the company's employees have resorted to heavy selling of shares after lock-in period post subscription to the company's shares in the offer for sale held in February this year. It may be recalled that NTPC had announced last month that the Government of India (GOI) had offered 2.06 crore shares to the eligible employees of the company at discounted price of Rs 115.90 per share i.e. 5% discount to the cut off price of Rs 122 discovered through the offer for sale (OFS) of shares of NTPC carried out by GOI on 23 February 2016 and 24 February 2016.
Telecom stocks rose. Bharti Airtel (up 3.32%), Idea Cellular (up 3.3%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.78%) rose. MTNL (down 1.52%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.57%) declined.
Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 0.24%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Titan Company rose 0.66% after the company said it has signed a share purchase agreement for acquisition of about 62% stake in Carat Lane Trading for a purchase consideration of Rs 357.24 crore. Carat Lane Trading is involved in the business of designing, manufacturing, trading and retailing of gems and jewellery. The company reported revenue of Rs 141 crore for the year ended 31 March 2016. The acquisition is expected to be completed within 14 business days subject to completion of pre-closing conditions, Titan Company said. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 14 July 2016.
The Sensex snapped a four-day winning streak. The barometer index had risen 815.21 points or 3% in the preceding four trading sessions to settle at 27,942.11 yesterday, 14 July 2016, from a close of 27,126.90 on 8 July 2016.
Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a weekly report issued after trading hours yesterday, 14 July 2016, that the southwest monsoon has covered the entire country. For the country as a whole, the cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon was 2% above the long period average (LPA) until 14 July 2016. Rainfall was 22% above LPA in Central India and 8% above LPA in South Peninsula. It was 1% below LPA in Northwest India and 24% below LPA in East & Northeast India until 14 July 2016. The IMD said in its extended range forecast upto 30 July 2016 that it expects above normal rainfall activity likely over Western Himalayan Region & Indo-Gangetic plains till 20 July and over northeastern states till 30 July. The weather office expects near normal rainfall activity over Peninsular India till 30 July. The IMD expects subdued rainfall activity over central and West India from 16 to 30 July.
The IMD has forecast rains to be above normal in July and August 2016 for the country as a whole. The quantum of the rainfall and its spatial and temporal distribution are critical for the country's agriculture. Around 70% of the country's farmlands are rain-fed.
In overseas stock markets, European stocks edged lower weighed by a terror attack carried out by using a heavy truck in the southern French city of Nice that killed at least 80 people late yesterday, 14 July 2016. In the UK, the Bank of England (BOE) left key rates unchanged at 0.5% after a monetary policy review yesterday, 14 July 2016. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion. BOE said in a statement that the MPC is committed to taking whatever action is needed to support growth and to return inflation to the target over an appropriate horizon. To that end, most members of the committee expect monetary policy to be loosened at the next MPC meeting in August. Committee members made initial assessments of the impact of UK's vote to leave the European Union on demand, supply and the exchange rate. According to the initial assessment, economic activity is likely to weaken in the near term. The precise size and nature of any stimulatory measures will be determined during the August forecast and Inflation Report round.
Earlier during the global day, Asian shares edged higher after Wall Street struck another record high overnight. Chinese stocks eked out small gains after the release of a slew of economic reports. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index closed 0.01% higher. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed 0.46% higher. China's economy grew 6.7% in the second quarter from a year earlier, steady from the first quarter and slightly better than expected as the government stepped up efforts to stabilise growth in the world's second-largest economy. The National Bureau of Statistics also said today, 15 July 2016, that industrial output rose 6.2% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from 6% growth in May, while fixed-asset investment climbed 9% year on year for the January-June period, compared with an increase of 9.6% in the year's first five months. Retail sales grew 10.6% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a 10% increase in May. The industrial-production and retail figures were better than expected while the investment figure was below expectation.
US stocks extended their run into the record books as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 notched record closing highs yesterday, 14 July 2016. Stronger-than-expected results from large financial institutions as well as upbeat economic powered the climb.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC moved higher after the company announced successfully raising Rs 3000 crore in first overseas issue of rupee denominated bonds by an Indian company. Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro edged higher after the company's announcement that it has decided to participate in the offer for sale of equity shares by way of initial public offering (IPO) by L&T Technology Services. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries eked out small gains ahead of the announcement of its Q1 June 2016 results.
NTPC edged lower on reports that the company's employees have resorted to heavy selling of shares after lock-in period post subscription to the company's shares in the offer for sale held in February this year.
The Sensex fell 105.61 points or 0.38% to settle at 27,836.50, its lowest closing level since 13 July 2016. The Sensex dropped 206.24 points or 0.74% at the day's low of 27,735.87. The barometer index rose 106.59 points or 0.38% at the day's high of 28,048.70.
The Nifty fell 23.60 points or 0.28% to settle at 8,541.40, its lowest closing level since 13 July 2016. The Nifty fell 54.95 points or 0.64% at the day's low of 8,510.05. The index gained 29.80 points or 0.35% at the day's high of 8,594.80.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,679 shares fell and 997 shares rose. A total of 200 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.09%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.74%. The fall in this index was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3904 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3097.36 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Bank stocks witnessed a mixed trend. Among PSU bank stocks, Vijaya Bank (up 3.28%), Punjab National Bank (up 2.33%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.37%) and Canara Bank (up 0.74%) rose. Dena Bank (down 1.09%), State Bank of India (SBI) (down 0.19%), Andhra Bank (down 0.96%), and Union Bank of India (down 0.39%), IDBI Bank (down 2.1%) and Bank of India (down 2.31%) fell.
Among private bank stocks, Axis Bank (up 0.71%), IndusInd Bank (up 0.93%) and Yes Bank (up 0.75%) rose. Federal Bank (down 1.6%), ICICI Bank (down 1.19%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.08%) fell.
Index heavyweight HDFC Bank rose 2.06% at Rs 1,225. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,226.35 in intraday trade, which is record high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 1,195.25 in intraday trade.
IT major and index heavyweight Infosys slumped after the company trimmed revenue growth guidance for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017) at the time of announcing its Q1 June 2016 results during trading hours. The stock lost 8.9% at Rs 1,071.20. The stock hit high of Rs 1,195 and low of Rs 1,058.30 in intraday trade. In constant currency terms, the company has forecast 10.5%-12% growth in revenue for FY 2017. This is lower than 11.5%-13.5% growth that the company forecast at the time of announcement of Q4 March 2016 and FY 2016 results on 15 April 2016.
Infosys consolidated net profit fell 4.5% to Rs 3436 crore on 1.4% growth in revenue to Rs 16782 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said in a statement that the company witnessed unanticipated headwinds in discretionary spending in consulting services and package implementations as well as slower project ramp-ups in large deals, resulting in a lower than expected growth in Q1 June 2016.
TCS fell 2.99% after consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) fell 0.4% to Rs 6317 crore on 3% rise in revenue to Rs 29305 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. Operating income fell 0.9% to Rs 7347 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 14 July 2016.
Most other IT stocks declined after IT major Infosys trimmed revenue growth guidance for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017) at the time of announcing its Q1 June 2016 results. Wipro (down 2.58%), Persistent Systems (down 3.06%), MphasiS (down 0.6%), HCL Technologies (down 1.44%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.69%), Tech Mahindra (down 2.98%) and Hexaware Technologies (down 4.11%) fell.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC moved higher after the company announced successfully raising Rs 3000 crore in first overseas issue of rupee denominated bonds by an Indian company. The stock rose 1.8%. The unsecured rupee denominated bonds carry a fixed semi-annual coupon of 7.875% per annum and has a tenor of 3 years and 1 month. The bonds have been issued at a price of 99.24% of the par value and will be redeemed at par. The all-in annualised yield to the investors is 8.33% per annum. This is a rupee based transaction and there is no foreign exchange exposure for HDFC. The bonds will be listed on the London Stock Exchange and cannot be traded in the local Indian market. The issue proceeds would be used for the housing finance business of HDFC as well as for general corporate purposes.
Meanwhile, the HDFC stock turned ex-dividend today, 15 July 2016, for final dividend of Rs 14 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016). Before turning ex-dividend, the stock offered a dividend yield of 1.05% based on the closing price of Rs 1,336.25 on yesterday, 14 July 2016.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro rose 1.42% to Rs 1,586 after the company's announcement that it has decided to participate in the offer for sale of equity shares by way of initial public offering (IPO) by L&T Technology Services. The company proposes to sell up to 15% of the equity shares held in L&T Technology Services through the IPO. L&T Technology Services has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on 15 July 2016 in order to undertake an initial public offering of its equity shares. The IPO comprises an offer for sale of up to 10.40 crore equity shares of the face value Rs 2 each by Larsen & Toubro. L&T Technology Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of L&T, is a pure play global engineering, research and development services company.
The decision to sell 15% of stake in L&T Technology Services comes two days after L&T's IT subsidiary L&T Infotech received strong response from investors for its initial public offer (IPO) which concluded on Wednesday, 13 July 2016. IT outsourcing services provider L&T Infotech's IPO received bids for 14.31 crore shares compared to 1.22 crore shares on offer. The IPO was subscribed 11.69 times.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.61% to Rs 1,012.55 ahead of its Q1 June 2016 results today, 15 July 2016. The stock hit high of Rs 1,020.65 and low of Rs 1,003.85 in intraday trade.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) dropped 1.18%. The company during market hours today, 15 July 2016, announced that it has successfully commissioned another 250 megawatts (MW) thermal unit based on eco-friendly circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology, using low quality coal (lignite) as the primary fuel. The lignite based thermal unit has been commissioned at Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose 1.38% after India Ratings & Research has assigned final 'IND AA+' rating with Stable Outlook for the NCDs of Rs 252 crore. Earlier on 28 June 2016, India Ratings & Research had assigned "Provisional IND AA+” rating with a stable outlook for proposed Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of Rs 500 crore to the company. The announcement was made during market hours today, 15 July 2016.
Tata Steel gained 3.8% to Rs 372.85, with the stock extending its recent winning streak. Recent rally in the stock materialized after the company's announcement that it has entered into discussions with strategic players in the steel industry, including Thyssenkrupp AG for a strategic collaboration for its European businesses. The decision had been taken as an alternative to the ongoing process for the divestment of loss making Tata Steel UK, the company said.
Meanwhile, T.V. Narendran, managing director of Tata Steel India and South East Asia was recently quoted by the media as saying that the company has plans for further expansion of its greenfield steel project in Kalinganagar in Odisha. Narendran reportedly said that for next 3 years Tata Steel will focus on ramping up Kalinganagar facility and targets a production capacity of 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) out of this facility.
NTPC lost 1.2% to Rs 156.35 on reports that the company's employees have resorted to heavy selling of shares after lock-in period post subscription to the company's shares in the offer for sale held in February this year. It may be recalled that NTPC had announced last month that the Government of India (GOI) had offered 2.06 crore shares to the eligible employees of the company at discounted price of Rs 115.90 per share i.e. 5% discount to the cut off price of Rs 122 discovered through the offer for sale (OFS) of shares of NTPC carried out by GOI on 23 February 2016 and 24 February 2016.
Telecom stocks rose. Bharti Airtel (up 3.32%), Idea Cellular (up 3.3%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.78%) rose. MTNL (down 1.52%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.57%) declined.
Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 0.24%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Titan Company rose 0.66% after the company said it has signed a share purchase agreement for acquisition of about 62% stake in Carat Lane Trading for a purchase consideration of Rs 357.24 crore. Carat Lane Trading is involved in the business of designing, manufacturing, trading and retailing of gems and jewellery. The company reported revenue of Rs 141 crore for the year ended 31 March 2016. The acquisition is expected to be completed within 14 business days subject to completion of pre-closing conditions, Titan Company said. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 14 July 2016.
The Sensex snapped a four-day winning streak. The barometer index had risen 815.21 points or 3% in the preceding four trading sessions to settle at 27,942.11 yesterday, 14 July 2016, from a close of 27,126.90 on 8 July 2016.
Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a weekly report issued after trading hours yesterday, 14 July 2016, that the southwest monsoon has covered the entire country. For the country as a whole, the cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon was 2% above the long period average (LPA) until 14 July 2016. Rainfall was 22% above LPA in Central India and 8% above LPA in South Peninsula. It was 1% below LPA in Northwest India and 24% below LPA in East & Northeast India until 14 July 2016. The IMD said in its extended range forecast upto 30 July 2016 that it expects above normal rainfall activity likely over Western Himalayan Region & Indo-Gangetic plains till 20 July and over northeastern states till 30 July. The weather office expects near normal rainfall activity over Peninsular India till 30 July. The IMD expects subdued rainfall activity over central and West India from 16 to 30 July.
The IMD has forecast rains to be above normal in July and August 2016 for the country as a whole. The quantum of the rainfall and its spatial and temporal distribution are critical for the country's agriculture. Around 70% of the country's farmlands are rain-fed.
In overseas stock markets, European stocks edged lower weighed by a terror attack carried out by using a heavy truck in the southern French city of Nice that killed at least 80 people late yesterday, 14 July 2016. In the UK, the Bank of England (BOE) left key rates unchanged at 0.5% after a monetary policy review yesterday, 14 July 2016. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion. BOE said in a statement that the MPC is committed to taking whatever action is needed to support growth and to return inflation to the target over an appropriate horizon. To that end, most members of the committee expect monetary policy to be loosened at the next MPC meeting in August. Committee members made initial assessments of the impact of UK's vote to leave the European Union on demand, supply and the exchange rate. According to the initial assessment, economic activity is likely to weaken in the near term. The precise size and nature of any stimulatory measures will be determined during the August forecast and Inflation Report round.
Earlier during the global day, Asian shares edged higher after Wall Street struck another record high overnight. Chinese stocks eked out small gains after the release of a slew of economic reports. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index closed 0.01% higher. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed 0.46% higher. China's economy grew 6.7% in the second quarter from a year earlier, steady from the first quarter and slightly better than expected as the government stepped up efforts to stabilise growth in the world's second-largest economy. The National Bureau of Statistics also said today, 15 July 2016, that industrial output rose 6.2% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from 6% growth in May, while fixed-asset investment climbed 9% year on year for the January-June period, compared with an increase of 9.6% in the year's first five months. Retail sales grew 10.6% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a 10% increase in May. The industrial-production and retail figures were better than expected while the investment figure was below expectation.
US stocks extended their run into the record books as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 notched record closing highs yesterday, 14 July 2016. Stronger-than-expected results from large financial institutions as well as upbeat economic powered the climb.
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