This week in a nutshell (5th – 9th July)

Technical talks

NIFTY opened the week on 5th July at 15,793 and closed on 9th July at 15,690. The index made a loss of 0.6% this week. On the upside, 20DMA of 15766 might act as a resistance and on the downside, 50DMA of 15,416 might act as a support. RSI (51) trending downwards suggests a further downside hereon.

Weekly highlights

• The government’s GST collection for the month of June was Rs 928bn, below the Rs 1000bn for the first time in eight months as the Covid-19 second wave stalled the economic activities. With most of the country under partial/full lockdowns in May, a fewer number of e-way bills were generated. The GST data for June pertains to business transactions made in May. With the easing of restrictions, there could be an improvement in the GST collections for the month of July.
• Post the Union Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, the new Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya announced a ₹ 231bn financial package for improving the health infrastructure in the country. Under the new package, the Centre would provide ₹ 150bn and the states ₹ 80bn. The plan would be implemented jointly by them to improve medical infrastructure at primary and district health centers. The plan aims to accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection, and management of Covid-19 with a focus on infrastructure development.
• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) producers canceled a meeting when major players were unable to come to an agreement to increase supply. The producers abandoned talks after negotiations failed to close the division between Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. This news pushed Brent Oil and West Texas Intermediate oil prices to levels not seen since 2018 and 2014 respectively. After a volatile week, Brent Oil futures settled at US$ 75.6 per barrel and WTI futures settled at US$ 74.6 per barrel (As on 10-07-21).
• The monthly life insurance premium data was released by the IRDAI. There was a pickup in the business acquisition in Jun-21 with the easing of lockdowns. The new business premium (NBP) which indicates premium acquired from new policies in a particular year rose ~4% YoY. Private insurers have led the growth in NBP, reporting ~34% growth YoY. The insurance companies have adapted to the changing needs of customers and improved their digital infrastructure which is a positive.
• Though the foreign institutional investors’ (FII) selling continued this week, the quantum was much lower at Rs 20,277mn vs Rs 54,168mn last week. Domestic institutional investors (DII) buying reduced to Rs 896mn from the Rs 64,174 mn in the previous week.

Things to watch out for next week

• The 1QFY22 result season has already started with TCS being the first company that reported earnings this week. The result season continues next week with Mindtree, Infosys, and Wipro set to announce their earnings.