Post Session: Quick Review

Friday turned out to be awful session of trade for the Indian equity indices which got pounded by over two and a half percentage points, tracking weak global cues as US bond yields soared on expectations US President-elect Donald Trump's policies would stoke inflation. After a negative opening, the domestic bourses never looked in recovery mood and ended the trade at intraday lows, breaching their crucial support levels of 26,900 (Sensex) and 8,300 (Nifty). Selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE could manage a green close. Counters which featured in the list of worst performers included auto, consumer durables and realty.

Domestic sentiments also hit with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement where he hinted to a probable delay in the rollout of the indirect tax regime. Investors also shrugged off NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the government's recent move to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1000 rupee notes could lead to moderation in inflation unless there is tangible action from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Investors failed to get any comfort with International Monetary Fund (IMF) supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to fight corruption through the currency control measures and illegal financial flows in India, but it has stressed taking care to minimise disruptions in the economy.

Global cues too dampened sentiments with European markets trading mostly in red amid expectations that President-elect Donald Trump's attempts to boost the economy with fiscal stimulus may fuel inflation and prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates far faster than expected. Asian markets ended mostly in red as soaring U.S. bond yields on expectations of higher inflation and interest rates in the U.S. stoked worries about capital outflows from the region.

Back home, depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. The rupee was at 67.16 per dollar at the time of equity markets closing as compared to 66.62 per dollar level on Thursday. On the sectoral front, stocks related to real estate and jewellery space remained under selling pressure on Friday, three days after the government demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in a bid to curb black money circulation in the economy. Shares of aviation stocks edged lower over media reports that said the government would impose a new levy on some domestic flights. The ministry of civil aviation has proposed the levy to help raise money to fund air travel between India's smaller towns and cities at a subsidised cost.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty lost around two hundred and thirty points to end below the psychological 8,300 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex tumbled by around seven hundred points to finish below its psychological 26,900 mark. Broader markets too witnessed selling pressure and ended the session with a massive cut of around three and a half percent.

The market breadth remained in favor of decliners, as there were 482 shares on the gaining side against 2,205 shares on the losing side while 143 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 26818.82, down by 698.86 points or 2.54% after trading in a range of 26777.18 and 27344.85. There was only 1 stock advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index tumbled 3.62%, while Small cap index was down by 3.42%. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 4.53%, Consumer Durables down by 4.19%, Realty down by 4.00%, FMCG down by 3.24% and Bankex down by 2.51%.(Provisional)

The lone gainer on the Sensex was Sun Pharma up by 3.30%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 6.02%, Adani Ports &Special down by 5.86%, ICICI Bank down by 5.32%, Hero MotoCorp down by 5.18% and Asian Paints down by 5.02% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, road transport and highways, and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the Government is planning to invest Rs 25 lakh crore in highways and shipping sectors in the next five year. He estimated that this will create almost five crore jobs and also boost the gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 3%. According to Minister, till now projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore have been awarded, including projects worth Rs 3.17 lakh crore in highways and Rs 80,000 crore in shipping. He added that the road construction pace per day has increased to 22 km whereas, the ministry has set a target of 40 km a day and it is working on it.

The Minister said the target of the road transport and highways ministry was to double the country’s highway network to 2 lakh km. The length of National Highways has already been increased to 1.65 lakh km, from the earlier 96,000 km. On poor highway connectivity in the northeastern states, he said that the Ministry will make an investment over Rs 1 lakh crore in the region to upgrade the road construction. He further said that the highways construction target for the current fiscal year is 15,000 km, of which about 3,600 km had been constructed till October.

Gadkari has said that government is in the process of finalizing project reports of 12 expressways soon and work on the same will start. Two key projects, Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways will be completed in the next seven months. He said that the master plans have been finalized for the 12 major ports and based on the same, 142 port capacity expansion projects worth Rs 91,434 crore have been identified for implementation over the next 20 years. Further, the minister sees immense potential of waterways in the country, including cruise tourism, and the government is working to give a push in this direction. The government has already approved conversion of 111 rivers across the country into waterways.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8296.30, down by 229.45 points or 2.69% after trading in a range of 8284.95 and 8460.60. There was only 1 stock advancing against 50 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The lone gainer on Nifty was Sun Pharma up by 3.27%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 6.14%, Adani Ports &Special down by 6.04%, Eicher Motors down by 5.99%, Yes Bank down by 5.84% and Bharti Infratel down by 5.75% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 65.78 points or 0.96% to 6,762.20 and France’s CAC was down by 16.71 points or 0.37% to 4,514.24, while Germany’s DAX was up by 24.13 points or 0.23% to 10,654.25.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in red on Friday as soaring US bond yields on expectations of higher inflation and interest rates in the US stoked worries about capital outflows from the region. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended a tad firmer as the dollar continued to rise against the yen after President-elect Donald Trump promised tax reform and large fiscal spending to stimulate the world's largest economy. Chinese shares rose to a fresh 10-month high after news that the long-awaited Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will be officially launched on November 21. China's yuan weakened for a second straight day to hit a fresh six-year low against the dollar, tracking a broad rally in the greenback as investors braced for further uncertainty over coming weeks.