Post Session: Quick Review

Bringing up third-day of gains, Indian equity benchmarks finished Friday’s session on a firm footing, aided by strong global cues, weaker crude as well as strengthening rupee. Key indices started the day with healthy gains, as traders took encouragement with report that under attack for the agrarian crisis, the government is contemplating several incentives, including a big financial package, to woo farmers ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The government is looking at a sort of income support scheme for farmers, along with tweaking some existing programmes, to make them more beneficial and improve their acceptability among growers. Domestic sentiments were also buoyed with private report that the new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy in the e-commerce sector may not impact jobs immediately. The new FDI policy released by the government on December 26 aims to protect the interests of local businessmen, who had accused the online marketplaces of butchering their revenue.

Adding the confidence among investors, Ministry of Commerce & Industry’s report showed that the growth of manufacturing sector as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base year 2011-12, has been consistently increasing over the past three years and the current year. As per data report, manufacturing sector grew at the rate of 5.6% during April-October period (Provisional), while in 2017-18, the growth rate was 4.6% as against 4.4% in 2016-17. However, key indices arrested some gains in dying hour of trade, with a private report stating that the fiscal situation of the Narendra Modi government has worsened with the fiscal deficit in the first eight months of the financial year 2018-19 hitting 115% of the budget estimates.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday, while European markets were trading in green, following a wild session for stocks where the Dow erased a 600-point drop to close positive. Back home, automobile sector stocks were buzzing with the government’s statement that the country’s automobile sector, which attracted $16.5 billion in FDI between April 2000 and December 2016, is expected to attract $8-10 billion more in local and foreign investments by 2023.

The BSE Sensex ended at 36070.73, up by 263.45 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 35911.99 and 36194.78. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.18%, Healthcare up by 1.29%, Industrials up by 1.14%, Basic Materials up by 1.12% and Capital Goods up by 1.09%, while Telecom down by 0.31% and Realty down by 0.15% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.01%, Vedanta up by 1.81%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.71%, ICICI Bank up by 1.66% and HDFC up by 1.66%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.88%, TCS down by 0.71%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.59%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.46% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.13% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, triggering concerns about the state of public finances, India’s fiscal deficit exceeded to Rs 7.17 lakh crore and touched 114.8% of the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of November on account of lower revenue collections. At the end of November 2017, it was 112% of the BE. Besides, the government has budgeted to cut the fiscal deficit to 3.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018-19, from 3.53% in the previous financial year.

The Controller General of Accounts’ (CGA) data showed that the total revenue receipts of the government totalled Rs 8.7 lakh crore or 50.4% of BE in 2018-19 till November, compared with 53.1% during the same period last year. The government has budgeted to mop up Rs 17.25 lakh crore revenue during the current fiscal.

According to the data, tax revenue was 49.4% of BE, compared with 57% in the comparable period of the previous year. Moreover, the total expenditure of the government at November-end was Rs 16.13 lakh crore or 66.1% of BE. The expenditure in terms of percentage of BE was higher in the year-ago period. Of the total expenditure in this period, Rs 14.22 lakh crore was on revenue account and Rs 1.91 lakh crore on capital account.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10859.10, up by 79.30 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 10817.15 and 10893.60. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Co up by 4.07%, Sun Pharma up by 3.39%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 3.32%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.36% and Vedanta up by 1.91%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.00%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.41%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.88%, BPCL down by 0.84% and TCS down by 0.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 103.02 points or 1.56% to 6,687.70, France’s CAC increased 69.15 points or 1.5% to 4,667.76 and Germany’s DAX was up by 163.44 points or 1.57% to 10,544.95.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Buying interest was a bit subdued in some of the markets in the region, with investors staying a bit cautious due to concerns about global growth and doubts about US and China agreeing on a long term trade deal anytime soon. The Japanese market ended weak, with investors taking profits after recent strong gains. Some disappointing economic data too contributed to the weakness in the market. On the economic front, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the jobless rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in November. That was above expectations for 2.4 percent, which would have been unchanged from the October reading.