Post Session: Quick Review

Key equity benchmarks traded on a weak note throughout the day on Friday and ended the session in negative terrain as traders remained on sidelines ahead of the September quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) number slated to be released later in the day. The day began on a negative note, as some cautiousness came with a report that India's economic growth is expected to have declined below 5% in the second quarter of the financial year 2019-20 on the back of weak consumer demand, slowing factory activities and negative impacts of the prolonged monsoon. Traders remain concerned with CRISIL’s report that for states, balancing the fiscal math while continuing to spend on infrastructure capital expenditure (CAPEX) will be challenging. The markets also remained under pressure, with Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that the government recognised the need to cut the corporate tax to boost investments. For the last few quarters the cycle of growth has not been as it was earlier. India's economy grew at 5% in the first quarter of 2019-20 the slowest pace in over six years. Market continued their weak run in the last leg of trade, as traders took a note of Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement that if India’s concerns are addressed by the RCEP grouping, the government may take a call on what needs to done, otherwise the present stand will continue.

Besides, weakness in global markets also dampened the sentiments with most of the Asian markets ending lower. Investors remained cautious amid worries that tensions between the US and China over Hong Kong could delay a potential ‘phase one’ trade deal. European markets were trading mostly lower, as investors remained wary of setbacks to a US-China trade deal and data showed private consumption in Europe's largest economy took a pause before the Christmas shopping season. Back home, Power stock ended higher with the government’s statement that a total 31,696 Mega Watt (MW) of grid connected solar power generation capacity has been set up in the country till October 2019.

The BSE Sensex ended at 40806.75, down by 323.42 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 40664.18 and 41143.22. There were 3 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.45%, Realty up by 1.04%, Utilities up by 0.41% and Power was up by 0.37%, while Energy down by 1.49%, Metal down by 1.42%, Auto down by 1.23%, Oil & Gas down by 1.05% and FMCG was down by 1.01% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The few gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.05%, HDFC Bank up by 0.81% and NTPC was up by 0.52%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.66%, Yes Bank down by 2.50%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.47%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.42% and Tata Motors was down by 2.09% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said share of private investment in total road construction was about Rs 98,100 crore during the last five years. Citing reasons behind weak participation of private sector in road projects, he stated said one of the reasons could be that major highway developers had capacity constraints, including over-leveraged financials, due to excessive exposure to infrastructure projects including highways.

Besides, lack of availability of debt products and some banks reaching the ceiling as per sectoral exposure norms could be the other reason. To encourage private sector participation through adequate incentives, he mentioned that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has adopted Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) with an objective to maximise the quantum of implementation of highway projects within available financial resources of the government.

Under HAM, 40% of the project cost is to be provided by the government as 'construction support' to the private developer during the construction period and the balance 60% as annuity payments over the concession period along with interest on outstanding amount to the concessionaire.

The CNX Nifty ended at 12051.80, down by 99.35 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 12017.40 and 12147.40. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 7.77%, Adani Ports up by 2.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.10%, HDFC Bank up by 0.86% and NTPC was up by 0.56%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 6.27%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.55%, Yes Bank down by 2.50%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.40% and Dr. Reddys Lab was down by 2.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 0.02 points or 0% to 7,416.41, Germany’s DAX was down by 20.20 points or 0.15% to 13,225.38. On the other hand, France’s CAC was up by 1.82 points or 0.03% to 5,914.54.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday on account of lack of overnight cues from Wall Street which was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, investors remained cautious amid worries that tensions between the US and China over Hong Kong could delay a potential ‘phase one’ trade deal. Japanese shares ended lower after the release of weak Japanese data. Japan reported that its factory output fell 4.2% in October, much worse than forecast and the biggest month-on-month drop since January 2018. The unemployment rate for Japan remained unchanged as expected in October, a separate communiqué revealed.