Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks altering between positive and negative territory, ended the session in red. The markets made a cautious start and traded slightly in red in early deals as prospects of an interest rate hike by US Federal Reserve increased. The Indian rupee opened lower against the US dollar on account of buying of the American currency by banks and importers. It was the lowest level for the domestic currency since June 24. Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded shares worth a net of Rs 1,960 crore on Thursday, according to the data available with NSDL. Gross purchases by FIIs stood at Rs 7,361.02 crore, while gross sales stood at Rs 9,321.27 crore. The demonetisation effect also continued to weigh on the bourses with both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed continued protests from the opposition about the demonetisation move. After the governments’ surprise decision to withdraw high-denomination bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from market, the currency in circulation reduced by 50 basis points in the week ended November 11, 2016. As per RBI data, the currency in circulation during the week under review declined by Rs 9,700 crore to Rs 17,87,700 crore, compared to the previous week. Also, fears have risen regarding production of the key commodities as farmers are not getting enough cash to buy seeds for winter crops. Investors failed to draw solace with NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement who expressed his confidence that the size of the Indian economy can grow to $10 trillion over the next 15 years, as China did in last one and a half decade.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed, while Japan’s Nikkei closed to a 10-month high, as robust US economic data buoyed expectations of an interest-rate hike next month. China stocks slid as energy and transport shares shed some recent gains, bringing an end to the five-week winning streak of main indices. Stocks had advanced most of the week, yet gains were capped by a rout in commodities market, which dragged down heavyweight materials stocks, mostly big-cap energy and non-ferrous stocks. European shares were trading lower as a stronger dollar underpinned export-oriented stocks such as automakers.

The BSE Sensex ended at 26117.99, down by 109.63 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 26114.34 and 26349.02. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.72%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.26%, Power up by 1.10%, Realty up by 0.96%, PSU up by 0.82% and Auto up by 0.68%, while Metal down by 1.18%, Consumer Durables down by 1.06%, FMCG down by 1.00%, Bankex down by 0.68% and TECK down by 0.65% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.25%, Sun Pharma up by 2.55%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.31%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.15% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.63%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.22%, Tata Steel down by 2.01%, GAIL India down by 1.79%, Asian Paints down by 1.50% and HDFC Bank down by 1.38% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, giving further boost to the infra sector the government has given the approval for 12 National highway projects worth Rs 6067.9 crore totalling 476.386 km in eight states, including Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

For expanding National highways, most of the over 476-km projects are under engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode. Out of the 12 projects which were cleared by the Standing Finance Committee(SFC), nine projects are in EPC mode, two in hybrid annuity and the remaining one in OMT (operate-maintain- transfer) mode. SFC has approved reconstruction with geometric improvement of two lane to two lane with paved shoulder of a sections of NH-125 in Uttarakhand.

A total of four projects pertain to Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh for augmenting of existing highway stretches on NH 39 and NH-415. The three projects for Maharashtra pertain to two and four-laning of highway stretches on NH-930, NH-211 (New NH-52) and NH-211 (New NH-52). The West Bengal project pertains to four-laning of Kolaghat to Haldia section of NH-41 with ROB cum Flyover, while rehabilitation and upgrade of Barhani-Kataya Chowk near Shohratgarh section of NH-730. The Goa project is for construction of Margaon Western NH Bypass for NH 17 (New NH-66).

The CNX Nifty ended at 8067.75, down by 12.20 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 8048.30 and 8128.95. There were 30 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 4.41%, Eicher Motors up by 3.86%, Sun Pharma up by 2.65%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.04% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.04%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 2.29%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.98%, Asian Paints down by 1.97%, GAIL India down by 1.91% and Tata Steel down by 1.76% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 43.41 points or 0.64% to 6,751.30, Germany’s DAX decreased 26.46 points or 0.25% to 10,659.08 and France’s CAC decreased 24.18 points or 0.53% to 4,503.59.

Asian equity markets ended on a mixed note on Friday, as concerns that emerging markets will face capital outflows continued to haunt investors. With bond yields rising in developing economies and the dollar gaining ground on signs of economic progress amid expectations for higher inflation and interest rates in the US, the outlook for emerging market assets seems to be far more uncertain now. China stocks slid as energy and transport shares shed some recent gains, causing an end to the main indexes' five-week winning streak. Share prices of property developers slipped after National Bureau of Statistics data pointed to slowing growth in property prices in top Chinese cities. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended higher as the yen continued to weaken, hitting a six-month low against the dollar, on the back of upbeat US data and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. While dismissing speculation that she may resign due to criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, Yellen on Thursday stressed that future interest rate hikes will likely be gradual.