Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equities lost ground on last trading day of week and resumed south bound journey dragged by IT sector’s stocks. Key indices made slightly positive start, as traders got some support with report that India Inc expects private capex to gain further momentum in the short to medium term, as it sees green shoots of revival in sectors like real estate, construction, logistics and chemicals, among others. Some comfort also came with growing optimism over an easing of COVID restrictions in the world's second biggest economy. However, markets unable to protect their gains and slipped into negative territory, as domestic sentiments got hit with a private report that the Reserve Bank of India’s curb on securitising loans having residual maturity of less than 365 days may hit the sale of short-term advances like micro-finance, personal loans and gold loans for a while. Some concern also came as exchange data showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in capital markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,131.67 crore on Thursday.

Traders shrugged off private report which stated that India consumer price inflation likely cooled to a nine-month low of 6.40% in November mainly due to a moderation in food prices. In afternoon session, markets added more losses to suffer with deep cut. Caution persisted among investors with report that U.S. economy is heading into a short and shallow recession over the coming year. In last leg of trade, traders pared some losses as investors went for beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Besides, Rupee strengthened against the US dollar too provided some solace. Traders took note of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has said that India will have to face global competition effectively to achieve the goal of becoming a prosperous and developed nation.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green as industrial and financial stocks gained on optimism over China relaxing COVID curbs, while Credit Suisse climbed on news of a capital raise. Asian markets ended mostly in green as investors braced for key U.S. inflation data due later in the day and next week's FOMC rate decision. Back home, sectorally, aviation industry stocks remained in focus as credit ratings agency Icra said domestic air passenger volume increased 3 per cent to 23.4 million in November on a sequential basis propelled by resilient travel demand and onset of the peak holiday season.

 The BSE Sensex ended at 62,181.67, down by 389.01 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 61,889.11 and 62,735.42. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.45%, while Small cap index was down by 1.00%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.71%, Healthcare up by 0.15%, Consumer Durables up by 0.13% and Bankex was up by 0.09%, while IT down by 2.98%, TECK down by 2.46%, Realty down by 1.54%, Metal down by 1.15% and Energy was down by 1.11% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 2.30%, Sun Pharma up by 1.33%, Titan Company up by 1.20%, ITC up by 1.15% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.00%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 6.52%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.62%, Infosys down by 3.08%, Wipro down by 2.23% and TCS down by 1.79% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has said that India will have to face global competition effectively to achieve the goal of becoming a prosperous and developed nation. On the way forward for the Indian economy and the steps being taken to realize the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed nation in Amrit Kaal, he remarked that 'the pandemic alerted us about our dependence on supply chains, particularly from geographies that are not friendly or transparent'.

He said ‘It opened our eyes on a number of risk factors in our trading system, our manufacturing and technology gaps that existed in India. This insight has helped us to move forward on the path to Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and added that India will have to engage much more with the global economy if we want to develop fast. He also said ‘to achieve the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat, we have to engage much more, not less, with the world, he said. We are not looking for closing our doors - but we are looking to opening our doors wider to global competition and it is the only way that the country will innovate and grow’.

Regarding the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, he said that it is designed to support the industry where it is needed in the initial years. He highlighted that ‘government plays a role of handholding support system through this scheme’. He said ‘PLI gives the kickstart, but then the industry has to move on its own strength’.

The Minister informed that all the decisions linked to this scheme are taken by a committee that comprises all stakeholders from the industry itself.
Goyal said that the government is trying to rejuvenate the textile and cotton sector and is working actively to revitalize this industry, from farmers to exports - as PM articulated - from farms to fiber to fabrics to fashion to foreign. He said ‘Similarly, National Technical Textile Mission is working to promote innovation and production. We have over 200 projects where academia, industry and government is working in tandem'.

The CNX Nifty ended at 18,496.60, down by 112.75 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 18,410.10 and 18,664.70. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 2.20%, Titan Company up by 1.24%, Sun Pharma up by 1.23%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.17% and Eicher Motors up by 1.08%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 6.71%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.62%, Infosys down by 3.14%, Wipro down by 2.39% and Hindalco down by 1.87% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 3.07 points or 0.04% to 7,475.24 and Germany’s DAX was up by 25.00 points or 0.18% to 14,289.56, while France’s CAC was down by 4.61 points or 0.07% to 6,642.70.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday, tracking overnight gains in Wall Street ahead of US inflation data and Fed’s interest rate decision. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise rates by 50 basis points (bps) next week to cool off inflation. Chinese shares gained after the country loosened some its Covid-19 restrictions, while Hong Kong shares climbed as China inflation data came in roughly in line with expectations. Data showing that consumer prices in China were up 1.6%, while producer prices dropped 1.3% year on year in November. Meanwhile, Chinese property developer Sunac China Holdings said it has unveiled plans to restructure more than $9 billion of its offshore debt as it tries to navigate out of the deep crisis engulfing the Chinese real estate sector, also supported market sentiments.