Bulls to pull Nifty above 18400 or profit-booking to continue? 7 things to know before market opening bell Indian benchmark indices are likely to open mildly higher amid mixed global cues, hinted SGX Nifty on Monday as Nifty futures were trading higher at 18354 level on the Singapore Exchange. “Markets are likely to remain in consolidative range due to lack of triggers in the near term. Also, lower participation from institutional investors due to upcoming year-end holidays would keep the markets lackluster. Though investors would keep eye on US home sales and GDP (QoQ) numbers to be released this week,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services “On the sectoral front, sugar stocks are likely to remain in the limelight after news reported that government might consider increasing sugar export quota for the current 2022-23. However, some selling might be seen in banking stock especially in PSU banks on account of profit booking after the sharp rally in the last few months,” Khemka added. Nifty Technical view: “A small negative candle was formed on the daily chart with long upper shadow. Technically this market action indicates sell on rise and downward continuation pattern. This is a negative signal and more weakness could be in store. The negative chart pattern like lower top has been confirmed at 18696-14th Dec and further weakness from here could signal a formation of new lower bottom of the sequence on the daily chart. Nifty on the weekly chart was formed similar pattern that of daily (small negative candle with long upper shadow), which indicates presence of key resistance around 18700 levels,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities. Levels to watch: “18300-18100 region will be a consolidation band for Nifty, with 17900 to be the likely downside objective, should Nifty find it difficult to float above 18370. A direct rise above 18480-520 would be required to announce the presence of bulls. Meanwhile, Bank Nifty may have seen a temporary top at 43800. However, should it take support on dips to 42500-41800, expect an extension in uptrend aiming 47000,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. FII and DII data: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net-sold shares worth Rs 1,975.44 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net-purchased shares worth Rs 1,542.50 crore on 16 December, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. Stocks under F&O ban on NSE: The National Stock Exchange has Balrampur Chini Mills, IRCTC, Punjab National Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, BHEL, Delta Corp, and GNFC under its F&O ban list for 19 December. Securities thus banned under the F&O segment include companies where derivative contracts have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit. IPO Watch: KFin Technologies IPO, with a price band of Rs 347-366 a share, opens for public subscription today, 19 December, and will conclude on 21 December. The technology-driven company plans to raise Rs 1500 crore through the public issue which is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) by its promoter. General Atlantic Singapore Fund Pte. Ltd is the share selling promoter who will receive all of the proceeds from the IPO. The company has raised Rs 675 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial share-sale. Oil rises: Oil prices reclaimed ground on Monday after tumbling more than $2 a barrel in the previous session as optimism from China’s reopening and oil demand recovery outweighed concerns of a global recession. Brent crude futures rose 72 cents, or 0.9%, to $79.76 a barrel by 0103 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $74.89 a barrel, up 60 cents, or 0.8%.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.