Bourses recover to enter into green territory

The local equity benchmarks recovered from the day’s lows to enter into green territory in late afternoon session, amid higher opening in European markets. Besides, buying appeared at Energy, Telecom and Banking counters and recovery in the broader markets, too helped the markets to erase the losses. Some support also came with SBI research’s latest report stating that the significant rise in fund raising through the IPO is likely to spur credit growth in some of the sectors. The report also noted that though there is no direct relation between credit growth and equity raising through IPOs, the years witnessing higher IPOs in general have shown a modest pick-up in credit growth. However, Fitch Ratings’ recent cut in the country's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.7% from the earlier projected 6.9%, capped the upside. Separately, India’s services sector growth lost its momentum in the month of November, as sustained pain from the country’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime triggered significant decline in demand and lower customer turnout. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index fell to 48.5 in the month of November from 51.7 in the month of October.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, pulled higher by Wall Street futures which point to another bullish session on Wall Street even as investors fade some of the recent market gains and eye developments in the tech sector that could suggest the current record run is losing some momentum. Investors also digested the latest news surrounding Brexit talks and monitored fresh economic data. However, Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Shriram Transport Finance Company zoomed after the company raised Rs 35 crore on private placement basis.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32870.45, up by 0.73 points after trading in a range of 32682.52 and 32893.05. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index was down by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.01%, Telecom up by 0.64%, Bankex up by 0.59%, Oil & Gas up by 0.49% and PSU up by 0.23%, while Power down by 0.83%, Utilities down by 0.70%, Metal down by 0.64%, Basic Materials down by 0.60% and Capital Goods down by 0.48% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.01%, Reliance Industries up by 1.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.83%, Sun Pharma up by 0.78% and ICICI Bank up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.33%, Wipro down by 2.05%, Tata Steel down by 1.66%, NTPC down by 1.45% and Power Grid Corporation down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s services sector growth lost its momentum in the month of November, as sustained pain from the country’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime triggered significant decline in demand and lower customer turnout. Even as the manufacturing sector received greater inflows of new work in the month, input cost inflation and unfavorable demand conditions, also pulled the index below the 50.0 no-change mark. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index fell to 48.5 in the month of November from 51.7 in the month of October. The Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index, which measures both manufacturing and services was also down to 50.3 in November from 51.3 in October.

According to the survey report, the service activity fell due to a drop in new business, weighed down by GST. Input cost inflation accelerated in November month, by rising at fastest pace since October 2013 and reflecting this burden, service providers increased their average selling prices in November. However, amid intensive competitive conditions, manufacturing companies could not fully pass higher cost burdens to their consumers. The sharpest rise in input prices was noted in chemicals, steel and petroleum products.

However, in a positive development, staffing levels in the Indian service sector increased in November for a third month in succession, but at modest pace.  Besides, factory employment also grew at the fastest pace since September 2012 in response to stronger growth in new orders. The report also found that inflows of new works in the manufacturing sector quickened to fastest since October 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10135.75, up by 8.00 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 10069.10 and 10147.95. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 1.97%, Yes Bank up by 1.80%, Reliance Industries up by 1.76%, BPCL up by 1.65% and SBI up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.14%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.05%, Tata Steel down by 1.71%, Eicher Motors down by 1.67% and NTPC down by 1.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 295.48 points or 1.01% to 28,842.80, Nikkei 225 decreased 84.78 points or 0.37% to 22,622.38, Taiwan Weighted decreased 84.26 points or 0.79% to 10,566.85 and Shanghai Composite decreased 5.94 points or 0.18% to 3,303.68. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.15 points or 0.36% to 1,719.28, KOSPI Index increased 8.45 points or 0.34% to 2,510.12 and Jakarta Composite increased 22.93 points or 0.38% to 6,021.12.

European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX increased 15.12 points or 0.12% to 13,073.67 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 31.24 points or 0.43% to 7,370.21. On the flip side, France’s CAC decreased 0.42 points or 0.01% to 5,388.87.