Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile session with marginal gains on Tuesday. The benchmarks recovered from the previous session’s losses on hopes of a pickup in credit growth following cuts in lending rates. The markets made a negative start in early deals on concern with report that global private equity players pulled out a record $10.3 billion of their investments in 2016 from domestic markets. India’s core sector output in the month of November slowed down to 4.9% from 6.6% in October and 5.01% in September, mainly due to decline in production of crude oil and natural gas. Though, it was higher than the 0.6% growth seen in November 2015, on the back of healthy performance by sectors, including coal, steel and electricity. Sentiments got some support after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressed hope that Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented in 2017 and a digitised economy will be future of India. He also said that the last year was a very successful year for India as the country continued to remain the fastest economy in the world. He further added that Indian economy will continue to be one of the fastest growing economies in 2017 as well. The buying moment continued with the rate cuts announcement by public sector and private sectors banks, India Inc expressed hope that cheaper loans will boost economy and push up consumption as lending may pick up significantly. Industry chamber, CII has said that lending rates cuts will play a crucial role in the process of strengthening the economy in the medium term. CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee stated that the sectors such as consumer durables, automobiles and housing should see a recovery as loans become cheaper. He also said that various measures have been taken to encourage lending to the SME sector and added that bank lending is expected to pick up considerably, as deposit mobilisation has been strong following demonetization.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mostly higher, while South Korean shares finished at a 10-week high as market heavyweight Samsung Electronics lifted the main bourse by hitting a record high. Markets were buoyed by signs of solid factory growth in China and Europe, giving the global manufacturing sector a solid boost heading into the New Year. A private business survey showed China’s factory activity picked up more than expected in December as demand accelerated, with output reaching a near six-year high. European markets were trading mostly in green with London’s FTSE 100 kicked off 2017 with a new high, hitting 7,142 on opening - the first full day of trading in 2017 after a holiday on Monday.

Back home, select IT companies like Infosys and Wipro were trading under pressure after Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka have sent out letters to their respective employees cautioning them about serious dangers facing the world and the IT industry. Globalised industries like IT services are at risk due to the recent political and social developments pose huge risks. Shares of logistics companies such as GATI, Snowman Logistics, Gateway Distriparks, Transport Corporation of India, Patel Integrated Logistics, Sical Logistics, Allcargo Logistics and VRL Logistics closed in green ahead of the GST Council two-day meet.

The BSE Sensex ended at 26616.22, up by 20.77 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 26488.37 and 26724.40. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.65%, while Small cap index was up by 0.99%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 3.07%, Oil & Gas up by 1.80%, PSU up by 1.54%, Power up by 1.04% and FMCG up by 0.73%, while TECK down by 0.39%, Auto down by 0.28% and IT down by 0.26% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.53%, Coal India up by 2.10%, Axis Bank up by 1.85%, GAIL India up by 1.10% and ICICI Bank up by 1.07%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.89%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.44%, Tata Motors down by 1.28%, Tata Steel down by 0.97% and Wipro down by 0.86% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in the wake of a number of complaints from consumers who are being forced to pay service charge in the range of 5-20 per cent, in lieu of tips, irrespective of the kind of service provided to them, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) has said that service charges billed by restaurants are optional and could be paid only if the customer is satisfied with the service.

The DCA said that the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 provides that a trade practice which, for the purpose of promoting the sale, use or the supply of any goods or for the provision of any service, adopts any unfair method or deceptive practice, is to be treated as an unfair trade practice and a consumer can make a complaint to the appropriate consumer forum against such unfair trade practices.

In this regard, the department has asked the State Governments to sensitize the companies, hotels and restaurants in the states regarding aforementioned provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and also asked to advise the hotels and restaurants to clearly display information at the appropriate place in the hotels and restaurants that the service charges are discretionary and that a customer dissatisfied with the services can have it waived off.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8189.05, up by 9.55 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 8148.60 and 8219.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.64%, Coal India up by 2.32%, BHEL up by 2.04%, Yes Bank up by 1.87% and Axis Bank up by 1.61%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.22%, Idea Cellular down by 2.40%, Bosch down by 1.41%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.34% and Tata Motors down by 1.34% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 29.73 points or 0.42% to 7,172.56, France’s CAC increased 20.78 points or 0.43% to 4,903.16, while Germany’s DAX decreased 12.56 points or 0.11% to 11,585.77.

Asian equity markets ended higher on Tuesday as most markets resumed trading after a long holiday weekend. While overnight gains in European markets, higher oil prices and upbeat factory activity data out of China supported underlying sentiment, though trading volumes remained thin amid the New Year holidays in Tokyo and New Zealand. The dollar pulled back slightly in Asian deals after seeing its biggest single-day gain in more than two weeks on Monday. Chinese shares ended higher after a private survey showed factory activity in mainland China picked up in December, a sign of improving health for the world’s second-largest economy. The China Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to 51.9 in December, marking its fastest rate of improvement in three years, up from November's 50.9. Markets in Japan were closed for the final day of an extended New Year holiday.