Lower attendance, higher volumes on Dalal Street

Volumes on Friday were 5.97% higher at Rs 3 lakh crore

Rain kept most brokerage employees away from work on Friday and those who did left soon after market hours but overall volumes were higher than the average over the past 30 days.

Greater use of technology has helped investors trade even as they remain at home, according to market experts. Many now prefer to trade online, through smartphones.

Over the past 30 days, the average volume was Rs 2.83lakh crore. On Friday, volumes were 5.97 per cent higher at Rs 3 lakh crore, showed exchange data.

This has happened despite the 30-day figure having an upward bias on account of the higher expiry volumes. The expiration of the derivative contracts towards the end of the month sees volumes go up significantly, leading to an inflated 30-day figure. If one looks at the volumes for the month of June so far, both cash and derivative volumes are in-line with, or higher than average.

Overall market volumes increased 18.89 per cent from an average of Rs 2.52 lakh-crore in June so far to Rs 3 lakh crore on Friday. Derivative volumes for June were Rs 2.34 lakh crore. It was 19.26 per cent higher on Friday, at Rs 2.8 lakh-crore. Cash market volumes were up 14.05 per cent, at Rs 20,097 crore.

“Technology is at work. There are so many people who are trading online now.  The effect of the rains is only in Mumbai,” said Vinay Agrawal, chief executive officer, Angel Broking.
“This was only Mumbai. The rest of the country did not have any problems,” said Prasanth Prabhakaran, president (retail broking), India Infoline.

Meanwhile, employee attendance was on the lower side as they struggled with commuting problems. Agrawal estimated that attendance was down around 30-35 per cent.  Employees were asked to leave early, before 5:00 pm, said Agrawal. Prasanth Prabhakaran of India Infoline estimated that around 30 per cent of employees could not come to office on Friday.