Post Session: Quick Review

Indian stock markets continued their bulls run to end at a record close for the second straight session on Wednesday, on the back of widespread buying by participants. Both the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 settled above crucial 41,550 and 12,200 levels, respectively. After making positive start, markets managed to keep their head above water, as traders took some support from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that India is impacted to some extent by the global economic slowdown but expressed confidence that the country will come out of the difficult situation within a short time. Traders also took a note of CII's President Vikram Kirloskar’s statement that the revised corporate tax rates are competitive and its impact will be visible in the next two years. He emphasised that the government listened to the industry 'word by word' on lowering rates. He said the industry pushed the government a lot for reducing the rates.

Buying, which was intensified in final hours of trade, took markets at their intraday highs, as the street remained buoyed with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that efforts are on to bolster the economy and create five crore jobs. He also said the government is according high priority to the economy but at the same time, security issues are also important and the government cannot work in silos. Some support also came as the Department of Revenue is eyeing to collect at least Rs 1.10 lakh crore as monthly Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection for the next four months each. Investors also awaited the outcome of GST Council meeting scheduled for later during the day. A review of the tax rates and slabs under GST is expected to be announced in the meeting. 

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed, as investors took a breather after the partial U.S.-China trade deal that sent equities to record highs. European markets were trading mostly in green, as gains for Swedish truck maker Volvo and defensive sectors helped counter worries about a hard Brexit that continued to pressure UK mid-cap shares. Back home, sugar industry stocks were in focus, after industry body ISMA said that India's sugar production stood at 4.58 million tonne till December 15 of the ongoing marketing year, down 35 per cent from the year-ago period, owing to sharp fall in output in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Mills had manufactured 7.05 million tonne of sugar in the same period of the 2018-19 marketing year. Telecom stocks also were in focus as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) deferred by a year a plan to abolish interconnection usage fees (IUC) that operators pay each other for calls made from one network to another.

The BSE Sensex ended at 41578.08, up by 225.91 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 41358.47 and 41614.77. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.21%, while Small cap index was down by 0.07%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.75%, Healthcare up by 0.71%, Metal up by 0.69%, Energy up by 0.65% and Consumer Disc up by 0.60%, while Utilities down by 0.89%, PSU down by 0.80%, Power down by 0.78%, Telecom down by 0.46% and Industrials down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.29%, Sun Pharma up by 2.77%, Asian Paints up by 1.99%, HDFC Bank up by 1.63% and ITC up by 1.62%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.61%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.31%, SBI down by 1.71%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.70% and Yes Bank down by 1.58% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, acknowledging India is impacted to some extent by the global economic slowdown, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has expressed confidence that the country will come out of the difficult situation within a short time. He said currently the world over, there is a talk of a global economic slowdown. Besides, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed for the sixth consecutive quarter in the July-September quarter to 4.5% as manufacturing slumped on low domestic consumption.

He said ‘I also accept that there is global economic slowdown and India is also impacted by it to some extent. But I can say with full confidence that India will come out of this difficult situation in only few months' time’. He added that this was not a matter of big concern for India because the government has taken several major steps and announced economic packages to boost economic growth. He also said ‘We can face and tackle the global economic slowdown only by increasing consumer demand’, and the government has taken several structural and procedural reforms whose impact is now visible. 

Singh further said despite the global economic recession, India has not been impacted because as compared to other countries, India's consumer demand is comparatively better and it will definitely come out of this difficult situation. He noted that this is not the first time that India is getting affected by the global economic slowdown. He outlined the major measures and initiatives taken by the government to provide basic needs to people of India, including providing homes, building toilets to end open defecation, electricity, cooking gas and focusing on infrastructure development.

The CNX Nifty ended at 12227.45, up by 62.45 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 12163.45 and 12237.70. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.59%, Sun Pharma up by 2.51%, JSW Steel up by 2.07%, Asian Paints up by 1.93% and HDFC Bank up by 1.80%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.89%, GAIL India down by 2.09%, Grasim Industries down by 1.86%, SBI down by 1.71% and Yes Bank down by 1.68% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 15.05 points or 0.2% to 7,540.33 and France’s CAC rose 12.87 points or 0.22% to 5,981.13, while Germany’s DAX was down by 6.10 points or 0.05% to 13,281.73.

Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday as investors awaited more clues on trade and the global economy. Concerns about the prospect of a so-called hard Brexit persisted and Weak data from Japan kept the market sentiment cautious. Meanwhile, China's central bank on Wednesday reduced its 14-day reverse repurchase rate marginally after cutting the short-term 7-day repo rate a month ago. The People's Bank of China also injected CNY 200 billion into the financial system via reverse repurchase agreements to meet liquidity demand. Japanese shares closed down on growth worries after official data showed the country's exports decreased for the 12th consecutive month in November. Exports fell 7.9 percent on a yearly basis in November - slower than the 8.8 percent fall street had expected. Exports to the United States decreased 12.9 percent while that to China were down 5.4 percent.