Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets traded on lackluster note throughout the day and ended with modest gains ahead of RBI policy meet outcome on December 6. The market breadth was in favour of declines with two stocks advancing against three declining ones.  The benchmarks despite a cautious start managed to keep their head above water in early deals backed by Infosys that gained after the appointment of new CEO and MD. Traders also took support from the noted economist and former vice chairman Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya’s statement who expects the economy to grow by over 6.5% in the current financial year. He said the macro-economic indicators have remained stable for the past 3 years with current account deficit hovering around 1% and inflation moderating. Some support also came in with the statement of Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries chairman that India’s GDP will double to $5 trillion in the next seven years and hit $10 trillion by 2030 as it will elbow out China by the middle of 21st century. Additionally, after India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 6.3 percent in the September quarter compared to 5.7 per cent in the June quarter, Niti Aayog’s Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said that the growth rebound shows the economy has come out of the woods and economic expansion for the full year will come in at 6.5-7 percent.

Some selling crept in  the final hours after former Chief Economist at World Bank Kaushik Basu expressing disappointment at the 6.3% GDP expansion in the September quarter said that with oil prices so low, India’s economic growth should have been back at over 9%. He added that this massive slowdown needs to be properly diagnosed. Meanwhile, investors also took note of a private poll that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will likely vote to keep interest rates unchanged later this week, citing inflationary pressure and a recovery in economic growth. In RBI’s bi-monthly policy announcement due on December 6, the MPC may also warn of rising prices and adopt a more hawkish tone, which could well be a prelude to a change in stance to tightening from neutral.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda urged financial institutions to reform their business structures to make effective use of financial technology, which is triggering big changes to global financial markets. China’s State Council Information Office enlightened that the country’s economic growth target for 2018 will reflect new changes in the economy as the government put more emphasis on higher quality development. European markets were trading in green on the first trading day of the week, as positive news on the Brexit and the US tax reform front improved sentiment around the globe. UK construction sector activity grew more than expected in November, hitting its fastest pace in five months and bolstering optimism over the British economy. 

Back home, select public sector banks stocks were buzzing in today’s trade on reports that as many as eight public sector banks (PSBs) have decided to raise capital from the market within four months as part of the Rs 2.11 lakh crore recapitalization plan. Some banks have already got approval from the finance ministry while others are in the process of getting the green signal for raising capital either through private placement or the rights issue. Stocks related to media sector closed in green on a private report that the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry would nearly double in size by 2022, clocking 11-12 per cent CAGR between 2016 and 2022.

The BSE Sensex ended at 32880.27, up by 47.33 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 32785.76 and 33008.47. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index was down by 0.49%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.30%, TECK up by 1.06%, Metal up by 0.61%, Oil & Gas up by 0.43% and Healthcare up by 0.40%, while Telecom down by 0.53%, Power down by 0.42%, Energy down by 0.41%, Realty down by 0.33% and Consumer Disc down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.75%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.39%, Tata Motors up by 1.23%, Tata Steel up by 1.15% and HDFC up by 1.14%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.35%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.20%, Asian Paints down by 1.07%, Sun Pharma down by 1.06% and NTPC down by 0.83% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, pegging strong double-digit growth for India's media and entertainment industry, a joint report of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has said that the industry is likely to grow in the range of 11-12 percent over next five year, on the back of growing rural demand and media consumption. Along with growth, the report also expects creation of seven to eight lakh new jobs from the M&E industry over the same period.

The report stated that the industry will need 40K-160K trained/employable individuals on the workforce every year for the next 5 years, amid rising consumer demands, changing business models and digital disruptions and in view of this, industry should prepare itself for such completely different workforce.  The CII-BCG report pointed that the industry should also look on their business strategies to fit in the digital era and to accelerate growth of the industry.

As per report, the media industry workforce will see significant shift in 2022. Major shifts will be around adoption of technology, big data and analytics as well as structural changes, which would mean many new job roles and a massive re-skilling of the current workforce. Besides, it noted that the demand for talent and functional skills in the industry will outstrip supply, given the pace of growth in the industry.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10138.15, up by 16.35 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 10095.70 and 10179.20. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 3.29%, Infosys up by 2.73%, HCL Tech up by 2.26%, GAIL India up by 1.84% and Hindalco up by 1.76%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.58%, UPL down by 2.39%, Coal India down by 2.24%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.09% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.58% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 56.92 points or 0.78% to 7,357.41, Germany’s DAX increased 146.88 points or 1.14% to 13,008.37 and France’s CAC increased 43.48 points or 0.82% to 5,360.37.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Monday after US Senate Republicans narrowly passed a bill to overhaul the US tax system and President Donald Trump said he never asked FBI director James Comey to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Japanese shares ended lower in cautious trade, dragged down by technology stocks. While,  survey data from the Cabinet Office showed Japan's consumer confidence improved as expected in November to the highest level in more than four years. The consumer confidence index climbed to 44.9 from 44.5 in the previous month.