Indian markets ended nearly a percent lower on Thursday, extending losses for the fifth consecutive session with the Nifty falling below 13,850, dragged mainly by losses in the IT and financial stocks. Today, the markets are likely to make optimistic start tracking overnight night rally on Wall Street. Investors will also react to the Economic Survey that will be tabled in the Parliament today. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the annual Economic Survey in Parliament for the growth projections for 2021-22. The Survey’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth projections for 2021-22 and estimates for the current year (2020-21) will be among the most tracked pieces of statistics as it would offer cues on how quickly the government expects the economy to accelerate to a faster lane. There may be some cautiousness as India witnessed a spike of 18,940 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), a day after recording only 11,666 cases. The total number of active cases in the country has fallen to 173,762, while the caseload tally stands at 10,720,971. Globally, more than 102 million people have been infected by the virus. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 13th among worst-hit nations by active cases. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,015,524), Karnataka (937,383), Kerala (905,591), Andhra Pradesh (887,349), and Tamil Nadu (836,315). Besides, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India and China have agreed to soon hold the 10th round of Corps Commander-level talks to take forward the de-escalation process in eastern Ladakh. Auto stocks will be in focus as Siam said automobile industry in India is going through a long-term structural slowdown as the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) across all major vehicle segments has witnessed a decline over the past three decades. There will be some reaction in power stocks with rating agency Ind-Ra’s report that power generation in the country would continue to grow in fourth quarter of this fiscal year on the back of revival of electricity demand and adequate coal stocks at power plants. Meanwhile, IRFC will debut on the bourses today. The issue that ran between January 18-20 was subscribed 3.49 times. There will be lots of earnings reaction to keep the markets buzzing.
The US markets ended higher on Thursday thanks to a broad rally as earnings season got off to a strong start and fears lessened around hedge funds selling long positions to cover shorts. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday as shares stateside saw an overnight bounce from heavy losses suffered on Wednesday.
Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended a disappointed day of trade deep in red on Thursday amid expiry of the January series of the Futures and Options (F&O) contracts, and ahead of the Union Budget announcement next week. Markets made gap-down opening and stayed in red for whole day, as traders were concerned as India recorded 11,752 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The caseload tally stands at 10,702,031. Globally, more than 101.4 million people have been infected by the virus. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 14th among worst-hit nations by active cases. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,013,353), Karnataka (936,955), Kerala (899,932), Andhra Pradesh (887,238), and Tamil Nadu (835,803). Traders took note of report that PE/VC investments in 2020 were at par with the previous year in terms of value at $47.6 billion as compared to $47.3 billion in 2019. Reliance Group entities topped the chart in 2020 with about $17.3 billion, which accounts for 36 per cent of the PE/VC investments in 2020. However, headline indices managed to trim some losses in late hour of session, taking support from report India's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) saw a significant jump in November 2020. FDI data released by the Commerce Ministry shows that total FDI in the month of November 2020 grew by a whopping 81 per cent to $10.15 billion against $5.6 billion in November 2019. FDI equity has also jumped to $8.5 billion as against $2.8 billion in November 2019, registering a growth of 70 per cent. Some support also came with Gita Gopinath, the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that India has entered 2021 with better prospects than what was expected last year and has been able to restore activity faster than many economies. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 535.57 points or 1.13% to 46,874.36, while the CNX Nifty was down by 149.95 points or 1.07% to 13,817.55.
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