Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks continued to extend northward journey for fifth straight session with frontline gauges surpassing their crucial 46,100 (Sensex) and 13,500 (Sensex) levels. Markets started the session on an optimistic note as traders consider approving coronavirus vaccines for the public, raising hopes of early economic recovery. As per a private report, an expert panel is set to review the applications of Bharat Biotech, Pfier-BioNTech and Serum Institute of India seeking emergency use authorisation for their vaccines. Some optimism came with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India will not worry about missing its budget deficit target as it seeks to step up spending to support the economy. Also, traders took note of report that India Ratings and Research expects interest rates to stabilise at the current level and the Indian currency to undergo structural changes.

Markets extended gains in second half of the trade as Union Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari has highlighted that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is backbone of Indian economy and said the government's aim is to increase the sector's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 50 per cent from the existing 30 per cent. Additional support came with a ratings agency ICRA’s statement that non-bank lenders have witnessed a good rise in loan collection efficiencies in the September quarter after the reverses in the first three months of the fiscal.

Firm opening in European counters too provided support to domestic markets as market focus in the region remains firmly on the progress of post-Brexit trade deal talks between the EU and U.K. Asian markets ended mostly in green as upbeat Japanese core machine orders data boosted sentiment. The value of core machine orders in Japan jumped a seasonally adjusted 17.1 percent on month in October, coming in at 842.5 billion yen. That blew away expectations for a gain of 2.8 percent following the 4.4 percent drop in September. Back home, financials and bank stocks remained in focus as the Supreme Court will continue its hearing in the interest waiver case today. Shares of defence sector companies were in focus on report that the Union government on Tuesday issued another notification regarding changes in the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) permitting foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence production up to 74 per cent under the automatic route.

The BSE Sensex ended at 46103.50, up by 494.99 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 45792.01 and 46164.10. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.40%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.47%, Energy up by 1.46%, Realty up by 1.39%, IT up by 1.03% and FMCG up by 0.97%, while Power down by 0.25% and Basic Materials down by 0.13% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.59%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.61%, HDFC Bank up by 2.42%, Infosys up by 1.93% and Axis Bank up by 1.92%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 0.87%, Tata Steel down by 0.86%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.68%, SBI down by 0.55% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.43% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that it is difficult to carry out tough reforms in India as there is 'too much of democracy', and emphasized that more reforms need to be done to make the country competitive. He said for the first time, the Centre has carried out hard reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour, agriculture, and the next wave of reforms must be pushed by the states.

Kant has stated that it is not easy to compete against China without hard reforms. He said that this government has demonstrated political will to carry out hard reforms. He stressed that the next wave of reforms must come from states. He said 'If 10-12 states will grow at higher rates, then there is no reason why Indian won't grow at higher rates. We have asked union territories to privatize discoms. Discoms must become far more competitive and provide cheap power’.

On Modi government's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, Niti Aayog CEO said it is not about looking inwards, but unleashing the potential of Indian companies. He said the government has identified 10 champion sectors for production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme and these sectors will play a major role in making India a manufacturing hub, and give the country economies of scale.

The CNX Nifty ended at 13529.10, up by 136.15 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 13449.60 and 13548.90. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 4.19%, Asian Paints up by 3.42%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.19%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.71% and HDFC Bank up by 2.25%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.91%, Shree Cement down by 1.43%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.40%, Wipro down by 1.15% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.69% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 gained 32.93 points or 0.50% to 6,591.75, France’s CAC jumped 14.18 points or 0.26% to 5,574.85 and Germany’s DAX was up by 120.86 points or 0.91% to 13,399.35.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday as optimism about the first corona virus vaccine rollouts in the United Kingdom and fresh hopes for an additional stimulus deal in the United States outweighed concerns about surging corona virus cases and new lockdowns. US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s corona vaccine is currently undergoing final-stage clinical trials involving 60,000 participants at more than 200 locations in the US and other countries. Results are expected in late January. Japanese shares ended higher after data showed Japan's core machinery orders rebounded sharply in October from the previous month's drop. However, Chinese shares ended lower on growing concerns over Sino-US relations, while consumer prices declined for the first time in over a decade on falling food prices.