Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended highly volatile session in red terrain on Friday, with both the Sensex and the Nifty closing with notable losses. After a cautious start of the day, markets altered between green and red during the whole trading day, as SBI Research in its latest report said India’s GDP likely contracted 10.7% in the second quarter, with a further recovery likely in the third quarter, citing improvements in economic indicators over October and November. The union ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) on November 27 will announce the gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the second quarter (July-September 2020) of current financial year (FY 2020-21).

In early afternoon deals, key indices managed to trade in green with notable gains for a little time, taking support with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that digital infrastructure has become indispensable to the functioning of society and India can create $1 trillion of economic value using digital technology by 2025. He also said the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic has provided an impetus to the ever-expanding digital infrastructure. But, markets failed to hold gains and ended lower, even after SBI Ecowrap stated that riding high on improved economic activities the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in November is projected to be 10-month high of Rs 1.08 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.05 lakh crore in October 20. It further explained that the November 20 collections will be very close to January 20 collections (Rs 1.10 lakh crore).

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday, after China's industrial profits expanded strongly in October as the economy showed signals of robust rebound from the coronavirus driven downturn. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that industrial profits advanced 28.2 percent on a yearly basis in October. This was the sixth consecutive rise in profits. During January to October period, industrial profits gained 0.7 percent from the same period last year. Data revealed that profits of state-owned enterprises decreased 7.2 percent annually, while that of private firms climbed 1.1 percent in ten months ended October.

The BSE Sensex ended at 44149.72, down by 110.02 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 43995.41 and 44407.28. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.91%, while Small cap index was up by 2.40%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.74%, Consumer Durables up by 2.44%, Consumer Disc up by 1.60%, Auto up by 1.50% and Utilities up by 1.33%, while Energy down by 1.06%, TECK down by 0.97%, IT down by 0.93%, Telecom down by 0.81% and PSU down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.85%, Titan Co up by 2.32%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.20%, Tata Steel up by 1.57% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.63%, HCL Tech. down by 2.39%, ONGC down by 2.12%, Axis Bank down by 1.75% and TCS down by 1.53% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid improved economic activities, the SBI Ecowrap in its latest report has showed that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections are likely to be 10-month high of Rs 1.08 lakh crore in November as compared to Rs 1.05 lakh crore in October 2020.

According to the report, the November 2020 collections will be very close to January 2020 collections (Rs 1.10 lakh crore). It said that the continued improvement in GST is mainly due to traction in economic activities and services in festive month of November.

Besides, the yearly SBI Composite Index has now reached a 19-month high of 53.9 (Moderate Growth) in November 2020, compared to 53.0 (Moderate Growth) in October 2020, and 50.8 (Low Growth) in November 2019. Further, the monthly index touched the all-time high of 62.1 (High Growth) in November, compared to 59.3 (High Growth) in October and 49.96 (Low Growth) in November.

The CNX Nifty ended at 12968.95, down by 18.05 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 12914.30 and 13035.30. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.80%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.79%, Asian Paints up by 2.78%, Titan Co up by 2.55% and Britannia up by 2.51%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.66%, JSW Steel down by 2.51%, HCL Tech. down by 2.37%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.12% and ONGC down by 2.12% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 9.33 points or 0.17% to 5,576.12, Germany’s DAX increased 23.64 points or 0.18% to 13,310.21. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 59.49 points or 0.93% to 6,303.44.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday due to positive news surrounding potential vaccines to treat Covid-19 fanned optimism about a speedy global economic revival. AstraZeneca is likely to run an additional global trial to assess the efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine using a lower dosage, its chief executive was quoted as saying amid questions over the results from its late-stage study. Further, easing US political uncertainty after President-elect Joe Biden's transition to the White House also lifted sentiment. Chinese shares climbed after data showed the country's industrial profits advanced 28.2 percent on a yearly basis in October, marking the sixth consecutive rise in profits as the economy showed signals of robust rebound from the corona virus driven downturn.