Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended volatile day in green terrain on Thursday. The start of the day was on a strong note, as traders took encouragement with a private report stating that the New Year will herald the return of normalcy and witness the growth momentum gaining steam, and pegged the real GDP growth estimate at 8.2 per cent for FY2022-23. Some support came after an article on the state of the economy published in RBI Bulletin said that upbeat high-frequency indicators and consumer confidence show that the Indian economy continues to forge ahead, emerging out of shackles of the pandemic. It said the recovery is spearheaded by an uptick in private investment through November-December alongside a turnaround in bank credit offtake and high capex from the government sector (Centre and States).

But soon, key indices cut their gains and turned volatile, amid Omicron concerns. State Health Minister Veena George said four more cases of Covid-19 variant Omicron have been confirmed in Kerala. With this the total cases of the variant in Kerala has reached 5 and in India -73. Some concerns came with IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath’s statement that as the global economy recovers from the pandemic, a great deal of uncertainty remains about new COVID-19 variants and increased inflation pressures in many countries. Besides, the International Monetary Fund said that global debt surged to $226 trillion last year, its biggest one-year jump since World War Two, and will be put at risk if global interest rates rise faster than expected and growth falters.

Despite volatility, markets managed to end in green terrain, as traders got some support, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Union cabinet's decision on designing and manufacturing semiconductor chips in India would encourage research and innovation, boost manufacturing and help fulfil the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Besides, with an aim to deepen digital payments in the country, the Union Cabinet has approved an incentive scheme to promote RuPayDebit cards and low-value (upto Rs. 2,000) BHIM-UPI transactions (Person-to-Merchant (P2M)) in the country. It will also help in making accessible digital modes of payments to unbanked and marginalized populations, who are outside of the formal banking and financial system.           

On the global front, European markets were trading higher after French manufacturers' confidence unexpectedly improved in December. The business confidence index rose to 111 in December from 110 in the previous month. The score was forecast to fall to 109. Asian markets finished in green, even after the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in December, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank showed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 54.2. That's down from 54.5 in November, although it remains well above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex ended at 57901.14, up by 113.11 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 57683.11 and 58337.20. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.70%, while Small cap index down by 0.65%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.25%, Energy up by 1.03%, TECK up by 0.96%, Consumer Durables up by 0.42% and Oil & Gas up by 0.23%, while Power down by 1.11%, Utilities down by 1.05%, Realty down by 0.80%, Bankex down by 0.68% and Healthcare down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.61%, Infosys up by 2.19%, Titan Co up by 1.52%, Reliance Industries up by 1.35% and HCL Tech. up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.51%, ICICI Bank down by 1.50%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.44%, Sun Pharma down by 1.43% and Indusind Bank down by 0.94% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to deepen digital payments in the country, the Union Cabinet has approved an incentive scheme to promote RuPayDebit cards and low-value (upto Rs. 2,000) BHIM-UPI transactions (Person-to-Merchant (P2M)) in the country.              

Under the scheme, the acquiring banks will be incentivised by the Government, by way of paying percentage of value of transactions (P2M) done through RuPay Debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI modes of payments, at an estimated financial outlay of Rs.1,300 crore for a period of one year with effect from April 01, 2021.

This scheme will facilitate acquiring Banks in building robust digital payment ecosystem and promoting RuPay Debit card and BHIM-UPI digital transactions, across all sectors and segments of the population. It will also help in making accessible digital modes of payments to unbanked and marginalized populations, who are outside of the formal banking and financial system.

The CNX Nifty ended at 17248.40, up by 27.00 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 17184.95 and 17379.35. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.65%, Infosys up by 2.16%, BPCL up by 1.76%, Titan Co up by 1.47% and Reliance Industries up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.71%, Cipla down by 1.64%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.55%, ICICI Bank down by 1.48% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.44% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 77.55 points or 1.08% to 7,248.30, France’s CAC increased 98.07 points or 1.42% to 7,025.70 and Germany’s DAX was up by 253.05 points or 1.64% to 15,729.40.

Most of the Asian markets finished in green on Thursday, corroborated by the risk appetite in the market on optimism that Federal Reserve focuses to terminate its pandemic-era bond purchases by March, implicating three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes by the end of 2022, and for tackling inflationary pressure in the economy. Japan’s Nikkei led gain in the session followed by upbeat production index reading for the month of December. The country saw its consecutive eleventh monthly gain boosting the investors’ sentiments. Shanghai stocks advanced moderately in the session, with the major gains from financial, industrial, and energy sector shares. Industrial stocks marked a gain of 1.23% and financial stocks posted 0.78% rise. However, property sector retreated in the session with the ongoing debt laden woes. MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.17%.