Post Session: Quick Review

Breaking a three-day winning streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade marginally in red on Monday, on the back of weak WPI inflation data. India's wholesale inflation rose 0.58 percent in November, as against 0.16 percent in October due to increase in prices of food articles. Key indices made optimistic start and hit record highs, tracking global euphoria over the US-China trade deal. But traders soon turned cautious with the government data showing that India’s exports contracted for the fourth month in a row in November, dipping 0.34% to $25.98 billion, mainly on account of poor shipments of petroleum, gems & jewellery and leather products. Imports too declined by 12.71% to $38.11 billion in November, narrowing the trade deficit to $12.12 billion.

Markets witnessed some buying in late afternoon session, as traders found some solace with Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that the government is focusing on increasing consumption to boost economic growth. Highlighting steps taken by government to improve Indian economy, he said that the measures include corporate tax cuts to improve risk-return of companies. Though, key indices failed to hold recovery and ended in red, as Moody's Investors Service in its latest report lowered 2019 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India to 5.6 per cent, which is lower than 7.4 per cent growth in 2018, as slow employment growth weighs on consumption.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower despite the U.S. and China announcing that they have reached a phase one trade deal. However, European markets were trading higher, despite Germany's private sector contracted again in December with growth across the service sector continued to be offset by a downturn in manufacturing. Back home, banking stocks were in focus with rating agency Moody’s report that banks may see a spike in bad loans because of stress in the non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector and it warned that the trend of improvement in key bank metrics is likely to reverse or slow.

The BSE Sensex ended at 40955.29, down by 54.42 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 40917.93 and 41185.03. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.53%, while Small cap index was down by 0.26%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.21%, TECK up by 0.80%, Realty up by 0.31%, Utilities up by 0.18% and Bankex up by 0.09%, while Telecom down by 1.69%, Metal down by 1.40%, FMCG down by 1.32%, Consumer Durables down by 1.14% and Auto down by 1.09% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.76%, HCL Tech. up by 1.66%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.40%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.98% and HDFC up by 0.81%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.01%, Tata Steel down by 1.80%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.59%, Vedanta down by 1.44% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.41% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost economic growth, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian has said the government is focusing on increasing consumption. Highlighting steps taken by government to improve Indian economy, he said the measures include corporate tax cuts to improve risk-return of companies. Also, capitalisation of public sector banks and giving last-mile funding to realty projects was announced.

He further said as much as Rs 4.47 trillion has been sanctioned to non-banking financial institutions and housing finance companies to support retail lending, and added that 17 proposals amounting to Rs 7,657 crore had been approved under partial credit guarantee scheme. Also, 66 per cent of budgeted capex of Rs 3.38 trillion has already undertaken.

Subramanian said railway and road ministries will have undertaken capex of Rs 2.46 trillion by December 31. More than 8 lakh repo-linked loans amounting to Rs 70,000 crore have been sanctioned till November 27. He also said Rs 60,314 crore of capital has been infused into PSU banks. Lenders have disbursed Rs 2.2 trillion to corporates and Rs 72,985 crore to MSMEs.

The CNX Nifty ended at 12055.20, down by 31.50 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 12046.30 and 12134.65. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 2.76%, HCL Tech. up by 1.77%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.93% and GAIL India up by 0.83%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.50%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 2.44%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.18%, ITC down by 1.99% and Eicher Motors down by 1.88% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 168.96 points or 2.3% to 7,522.40, France’s CAC rose 53.84 points or 0.91% to 5,972.86 and Germany’s DAX was up by 77.71 points or 0.59% to 13,360.43.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday as investors’ initial enthusiasm over a phase one Sino-US trade deal gave way to concerns about the lack of concrete details on the agreement. Japanese shares ended lower as survey showed the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in December, and at a slightly faster rate. Though, Chinese shares ended higher after the United States and China reaching a historic agreement on a phase one trade deal and key Chinese data beats forecasts. China industrial production and retail sales expanded at the fastest pace in five months in November as steps taken by the government helped to boost domestic demand.