Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure throughout the session and ended with heavy losses of around two percent, triggered by a sell-off in global equities amid rising concerns over global economic growth for next year. Traders were cautious with the central bank’s statement that the total external commercial borrowings (ECB) will now be rule-based and will be capped at 6.5% of the gross domestic product. The limit now works out to be about $160 billion for the current fiscal year, against the actual outstanding of $126.29 billion as on September 30. The central bank already has a rule-based exposure for foreign investors’ exposure in bonds. Foreigners are allowed to invest up to 6% of the outstanding debt. Meanwhile, International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) stated that India's total energy subsidies amounted to Rs 1,51,480 crore in financial year 2017, a 36 per cent decrease since FY14. India's fossil-fuel subsidies fell sharply by nearly 70 per cent, from Rs 1,73,330 crore in FY14 to Rs 52,980 crore in FY17.

Markets continued a downward trajectory in the last leg of trade, and traded at day’s low point, as sentiments on the street weakened further with Parliamentary Committee expressing concern over the huge losses suffered by some Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and the low rate of return on assets and pressed the urgent need for optimum utilisation of their assets to generate better earnings. The traders overlooked a report stating that after pipping France this year, India is all set to overtake the United Kingdom in 2019 to emerge as the world’s fifth largest economy.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, while European markets were trading in red, due to fresh political turbulence in Washington and renewed fears over US-China relations. Back home, banking sector stocks were buzzing with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data showing that bank credit rose at a healthy 15.07% to Rs 92.03 trillion in the fortnight to December 7, while deposits grew 9.66% to Rs 118.84 trillion. In the previous fortnight ended November 23, credit has risen by 15.09% to Rs 91.32 trillion, while deposits surged 9.43% to Rs 118.13 trillion.

The BSE Sensex ended at 35719.05, down by 712.62 points or 1.96% after trading in a range of 35694.74 and 36483.49. There were 3 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.80%, while Small cap index was down by 0.97%. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were IT down by 2.68%, TECK down by 2.66%, Auto down by 2.22%, Consumer Durables down by 2.18% and Telecom down by 2.16%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 0.74%, Coal India up by 0.22% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.14%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.34%, Infosys down by 3.24%, TCS down by 3.01% and Asian Paints down by 2.69% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to ease cash crunch, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government will infuse Rs 83,000 crore in public sector banks (PSBs) in the remaining three months of the fiscal taking the total recapitalization of banks to Rs 1.06 lakh crore for the current financial year ending on March 31, 2019.

Jaitley said the move will increase the lending capacity of PSBs and help some of them to come out of Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework which imposes restrictions on their lending and bars them from opening more branches. He further said recognition of non-performing assets in the PSBs is complete, and the downslide in bad loans has begun.

Besides, the government sought Parliament's approval for infusion of an additional Rs 41,000 crore in the PSBs through the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants. This would enhance the total recapitalisation in the current fiscal from Rs 65,000 crore to Rs 1.06 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10754.85, down by 196.85 points or 1.80% after trading in a range of 10738.65 and 10963.65. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 2.31%, BPCL up by 0.96%, Coal India up by 0.66%, NTPC up by 0.44% and Power Grid up by 0.25%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Indian Oil Corp. down by 5.55%, UPL down by 4.55%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 4.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.52% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 3.49% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 23.62 points or 0.35% to 6,688.31, France’s CAC shed 51.23 points or 1.09% to 4,641.23 and Germany’s DAX was down by 73.54 points or 0.69% to 10,537.56.

Asian markets ended mixed on Friday as growing worries over the prospects for the world economy prompted investors to shun equities and seek safe-haven assets. Chinese shares ended lower as President Xi's highly anticipated speech on four decades of reforms as well as fresh monetary support measures announced by the People's Bank of China failed to ease investor concerns over slowing economic growth. Further, Japanese shares extended losses to close at a fresh 15-month low as the yen held gains on safe-haven demand amid rising borrowing costs in the US, political brinkmanship in Washington and fears of a slowing global economy.