Benchmarks to make negative start amid weak global cues

Domestic equity markets ended higher with gains of around one percent on Monday ahead of the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) board meeting. Both the markets clocked their best closing levels since October 03. Gains in FMCG, auto, metal, infotmation technology and pharma stocks pushed the domestic markets higher. Today, the start is likely to be somber tailing the weakness in other global markets. Investor sentiments may also remain mixed post the RBI board meeting that concluded on Monday evening. India’s central bank signaled a compromise with the government by agreeing to study a demand for sharing a part of its capital -- an issue that had triggered a public spat between the monetary policy makers and their political bosses. The RBI's board has decided to set up an expert committee to examine the central bank's Economic Capital Framework (ECF). The membership and terms of reference of the ECF committee will be jointly determined by the government and the RBI.  It also decided that the central bank's Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) will examine the issues concerning the banks that are under the Prompt Corrective Action framework. The Board also advised RBI to consider scheme for restructuring of stressed assets of MSME with aggregate credit facilities of up to Rs 25 crore.  The Board, while deciding to retain the CRAR at 9%, agreed to extend the transition period for implementing the last tranche of 0.625% under the Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB), by one year, i.e., up to March 31, 2020. With regard to banks under PCA, it was decided that the matter will be examined by the Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) of RBI. Traders may take note of a report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious deadline of December-end to implement as many business reforms as possible on the ground so that India could break into the top 50 of the World Bank Ease of Doing Business next year and said efforts are on to nearly double the size of country's economy to $5 trillion.  Meanwhile, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu has said the commerce ministry will soon start consultations with its finance counterpart and other ministries to implement the suggestions made by a committee on revamping special economic zones. The banking sector stocks will be in action as the RBI said it will inject Rs 8,000 crore into the system through purchase of government securities on November 22.  There will be some buzz in the sugar stocks on report that India's sugar production till November 15 was 11.63 lakh tonnes as compared to 13.73 lakh tonnes produced during same period of previous year; down by about 15% due to delayed start of crushing operations in Uttar Pradesh.

The US markets ended deeply lower on Monday after report which showed that home-builders’ confidence plummeted in November. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index plunged to 60 in November after inching up by one point to 68 in October. Negative sentiment also generated as the biggest and most popular technology stocks plunged. Asian markets were trading lower on Tuesday in morning deals mirroring a technology sell-off overnight on Wall Street amid concerns over iPhone demand and the US-China trade war.

Back home, extending winning streak for third straight day, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Monday’s trade on optimistic note with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 35,700 (Sensex) and 10,750 (Nifty) levels. After a positive opening, there appeared not even an iota of profit booking in the session with benchmarks fervently gaining from strength to strength to end near intraday highs, as investors continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Sentiments remained up-beat with former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the government has made a huge progress in implementing reforms including some difficult structural ones such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that previous governments had difficulty in introducing. He also said that the Centre should stick to the fiscal deficit target for 2018-19. Investors took note of report stating that the government may push the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow more active participation by government nominees to the central board in the decision-making process and keep them informed about key regulatory issues. Meanwhile, the government expects to garner at least Rs 50 billion through share buyback offers of state-run companies, including Coal India, in the current financial year. Buying in last leg of trade helped markets to end near intraday high levels as optimism remained among traders with a private report stating that corporate India reported a good set of numbers during the July-September 2018 quarter, thanks to gains from a low base during the corresponding quarter last fiscal year and a better-than-expected showing by metals and mining firms. Market participants remained optimistic on Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the development of industrial park rating system would help increase competitiveness of industries and promotion of the manufacturing sector. The system is being developed by the ministry to assess industrial parks in the country based on four pillars internal and external infrastructure, connectivity, environment and safety management, and business support services. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 317.72 points or 0.90% to 35,774.88, while the CNX Nifty was up by 81.20 points or 0.76% to 10,763.40.