Late hour sell-off drag benchmarks lower for second straight session

Extending previous session butchery, Indian equity benchmarks once again ended the session with a cut of around half a percent, breaching their crucial 10,200 (Nifty) and 33,100 (Sensex) levels. Markets started the session on pessimistic note with traders reacting negatively to the macro economic data. Sentiments remained dampened after the industrial production growth hit a three-month low of 2.2% in October this year, mainly due to subdued performance of manufacturing and mining sectors coupled with a contraction in output of consumer durables. The IIP grew 4.14% in September this year. Industrial output rose by a meager 2.5% in April-October this fiscal as compared to 5.5% in the same period of 2016-17. Moreover, consumer inflation rose to 4.88% in November from 3.58% in October and 3.63% in the year earlier, exceeded the RBI’s forecast of 4.2-4.6% for the second half of the year. The higher-than-expected retail inflation effectively rules out any rate cuts in the near future by the Reserve Bank of India even as industrial growth remains muted.

However, markets took U-turn and entered into green terrain with traders taking support with a private survey report, stating that India is the third most optimistic nation in hiring intentions as 22% of employers are expected to add more staff in the next three months. It further said that workforce gains were expected across all seven industry sectors monitored and in all four regions. Another private report enlightened that the gap between China and India’s prosperity has narrowed by four ranks since 2016 and to a quarter of what it was in 2012. The upward trend in India’s prosperity is significant in view of the fact that India registered lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth following demonetization and implementation of the GST reform in 2017. But sharp selloff in final hour of trade dragged markets back into negative terrain, as traders opted to book profit at higher levels ahead of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data to be released tomorrow. Sentiments also weighed down on report that Asian Development Bank (ADB) scaled down its current fiscal year GDP growth forecast for India to 6.7% from prior estimate of 7%.

Weakness in European counters too dampened sentiments with CAC, DAX and FTSE trading lower, as investors awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting. However, Asian markets were trading in green. However, Asian markets ended mostly in green despite a closely watched update from the Federal Reserve on the outlook for the US economy and interest rates.

Back home, tourism and hotel stocks remained in focus on a tourism ministry report that more than 10 lakh foreign tourists visited India in November 2017, a rise of 14.4% over the same period last year. FTAs during the period between January and November this year were 90.01 lakh, with a growth of 15.6% over the same period the previous year. Select cement companies like Kakatiya Cements Sugar & Industries, Burnpur Cement, Prism Cement, Heidelberg Cement India, JK Lakshmi Cement, Shree Cement, Mangalam Cement and JK Cements closed in green on reports that the Supreme Court eased petcoke ban for cement companies. The Supreme Court allowed the cement industry to use petcoke as a feedstock, which had been banned last month to clean up the air in Delhi and its neighbouring states.

Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 174.95 points or 0.53% to 33,053.04, while the CNX Nifty was down by 47.20 points or 0.46% to 10,192.95.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 33,404.26 and 32,988.82, respectively and there were 5 stocks on gaining side as against 26 stocks on losing side on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.84%, while Small cap index was down by 0.81%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.50% and Energy was up by 0.21%, while Realty down by 2.27%, Metal down by 1.68%, Industrials down by 1.12%, Capital Goods down by 1.11% and Healthcare was down by 1.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.43%, TCS up by 0.68%, ONGC up by 0.44%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.23% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.13%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.11%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.97%, SBI down by 1.62% and ICICI Bank down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India in the month of November witnessed a sharp jump of 14.4 per cent over the same period last year. As per the tourism ministry data, the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India last month was 10.5 lakh as compared to 8.78 lakh in November 2016 and 8.16 lakh in November 2015. The maximum number of tourists came from Bangladesh contributing 16.77 per cent of FTAs, followed by the US with 14.77 per cent, the UK with 10.23 per cent, Russia with 4.41 per cent, Canada with 4.39 per cent, Australia with 3.96 per cent and Malaysia with 3.50 per cent.

The Delhi airport remained the busiest with almost 29.76 per cent share of FTAs, followed by Mumbai with 17.20 per cent share, Haridaspur Land Check Post (between Bangladesh and India with 8.40 per cent and Chennai airport with 5.78 per cent. The ministry data further revealed that FTAs during the period between January and November this year were 90.01 lakh, with a growth of 15.6 per cent over the same period the previous year, stood at 77.83 lakh in January- November, 2016.

November 2017 also saw a substantial rise in the number of tourists arriving on e-visas. During the month of November, 2017, a total of 2.14 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 1.37 lakh during the month of November, 2016, registering a growth of 56.2 per cent. From January to November 2017, a total of 14.57 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 9.17 lakh during January-November 2016, registering a growth of 58.8 per cent. 17.1 per cent tourists from the UK, 11.6 per cent from USA  and 6.6 per cent from Russian Federation were the top countries availing e-tourist visa facilities during November, 2017.The Tourism Ministry compiles monthly estimates of FTAs, including those with e-tourist visas, on the basis of their nationality and port. The estimates are based on data received from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI).

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 10,296.55 and 10,169.85. There were 16 stocks in green as against 34 stocks in red on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 2.18%, BPCL up by 1.68%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.53%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.46% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.12%, Cipla down by 2.05%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.86%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.72% and Hindalco down by 1.70% were the top losers.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX slipped 16.75 points or 0.13% to 13,166.78, France’s CAC decreased 6.95 points or 0.13% to 5,420.24 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 2.17 points or 0.03% to 7,498.24.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday despite a closely watched update from the Federal Reserve on the outlook for the US economy and interest rates. Hong Kong stocks rebounded on Wednesday, underpinned by services and financial firms. Further, South Korea’s KOSPI index rose as reports of South Korea and the US considering delaying joint military drills until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February helped tourist-reliant companies. Though, Japan’s Nikkei share average ended lower after tech stocks lost ground as they tracked their weaker US counterparts, while Shikoku Electric slumped after a court ruled against the restart of one of its nuclear reactors.