Markets continue to trade in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red in morning deals as losses in Telecom, Oil & Gas and banking weighed on the indices. Some pessimism spread among the investors as a private report stated that venture investments by private equity and venture capital funds were 27 percent lower on yearly basis in November at $3.9 billion, and more than halved from the $8.5 billion reported in October. Market participants also took a note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the government has taken several measures to support the economy but no amount of intervention will be adequate to deal with the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, losses remain capped  as CBDT said further adding to the recovery signals, advance tax payment by companies has shown a massive 49 per cent growth to Rs 1,09,506 crore in the third quarter this fiscal. On the sectoral front, stocks related to tourism sector remained in focus as culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel said domestic tourism would be the mainstay of the tourism industry in post-COVID times, highlighting the need to identify and promote unexplored and little known destinations in the country.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red despite the record closing highs on Wall Street amid optimism U.S. lawmakers are progressing toward an agreement on a new relief package. Worries about post-Brexit trade talks emerged after a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was likely no agreement would be reached unless the European Union's position changed ‘substantially’. Investors also turned cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision due later today. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.1 percent. Besides, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that overall consumer prices in Japan were down 0.9 percent on year in November. That was roughly in line with expectations following the 0.4 percent decline in October.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46775.90, down by 114.44 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 46630.31 and 47026.02. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.49%, while Small cap index was down by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.85%, TECK up by 1.52%, Consumer Durables up by 0.77%, Capital Goods up by 0.19% and Basic Materials up by 0.10%, while Telecom down by 1.06%, Oil & Gas down by 1.02%, Bankex down by 0.93%, PSU down by 0.84% and Energy down by 0.74% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.46%, Infosys up by 2.46%, TCS up by 1.65%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.54% and Titan Co up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.98%, HDFC down by 2.31%, ONGC down by 2.12%, HDFC Bank down by 1.91% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it will conduct the third auction of state developments loans (SDLs) worth Rs 10,000 crore under the Open Market Operations (OMO) on December 23, in a bid to inject liquidity in the system. The RBI will purchase the SDLs through a multi-security auction using the multiple price method.

The RBI is conducting OMO purchase of government securities to enhance liquidity support for financial markets so as to revive activity in stressed sectors which have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and successive lockdown.  The RBI has already conducted two OMOs for SDLs covering all states and union territories for a cumulative amount of Rs 20,000 crore. The first batch of OMO was conducted in October and the second in November.

The RBI said it reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase of individual securities; accept bids for less than the aggregate amount; purchase marginally higher/lower than the aggregate amount due to rounding-off; accept or reject any or all the bids either wholly or partially without assigning any reasons.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13698.75, down by 41.95 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 13658.60 and 13771.45. There were 22 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.52%, Infosys up by 2.42%, TCS up by 1.63%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.56% and Wipro up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.05%, HDFC down by 2.31%, ONGC down by 2.12%, HDFC Bank down by 1.98% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.89% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 178.48 points or 0.67% to 26,499.90, Nikkei 225 slipped 34.96 points or 0.13% to 26,771.71, Taiwan Weighted dropped 6.59 points or 0.05% to 14,252.34 and Straits Times trembled 3.86 points or 0.14% to 2,854.16.

On the flip side, KOSPI rose 3.10 points or 0.11% to 2,773.53, Shanghai Composite gained 4.44 points or 0.13% to 3,409.31 and Jakarta Composite soared 5.30 points or 0.09% to 6,118.68.