Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded with volatility throughout the day and ended the session with minor losses ahead of monthly F&O expiry. It was a negative start to the indices, as traders were anxious with rising crude oil prices. Markets failed to take support from report which stated that China took further steps towards reopening its COVID-battered economy. Some concerned also came in as the latest data on public debt showed that the total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 147.19 lakh crore at September-end from Rs 145.72 lakh crore at the end of June this fiscal year. In percentage terms, it reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1 per cent in second quarter of 2022-23. However, in late morning session, markets recovered from lows but switched between green and red territory.

Markets remained volatile in afternoon session, as sentiments remained pessimistic after India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its ‘Research and Ratings Compendium’ said that the ratio of Upgrades/Downgrades is likely to moderate, amid higher inflation, slowing exports and an improving but still weak domestic demand. The agency expects the economic growth to slow down to 4.0% - 4.5% in 2HFY23 from 9.7% in 1HFY23. However, buying interest in IT counters helped the indices to trade higher in late afternoon session. But, markets failed to hold recovery and once again turned volatile in last leg of trade.  

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red as investors looked ahead to the various economic headwinds coming down the pike in 2023. Asian markets ended mostly in red as China's move to reopen after abandoning its zero-Covid policy revived inflation fears. Back home, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its 'Trends and Progress of Banking in India' report for FY22 has said that Indian banks' gross non-performing assets (GNPA) declined to 5.8 per cent in March 2022, but the present macroeconomic environment can impact lenders' health. It stated the GNPAs, which touched a peak in FY18 following the asset quality review, have been declining sequentially to reach 5 per cent in September 2022.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60,910.28, down by 17.15 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 60,713.77 and 61,075.33. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.57%, Oil & Gas up by 1.26%, Energy up by 1.22%, Utilities up by 1.18% and Power was up by 1.15%, while Metal down by 0.47%, Healthcare down by 0.39%, Telecom down by 0.34%, TECK down by 0.31% and Capital Goods was down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 2.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.81%, Power Grid up by 1.39%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.27% and Indusind Bank up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.44%, Axis Bank down by 1.10%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.08%, Tata Steel down by 0.99% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.87% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the finance ministry in its the quarterly report on public debt management has said that the total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 147.19 lakh crore at September-end from Rs 145.72 lakh crore at the end of June this fiscal year. In percentage terms, it reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1 per cent in second quarter of 2022-23. Public debt accounted for 89.1 per cent of total gross liabilities at September-end 2022, up from 88.3 per cent as on June 30.

It said nearly 29.6 per cent of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years. During the second quarter, it said, the central government raised Rs 4,06,000 crore through dated securities, as against notified amount of Rs 4,22,000 crore in the borrowing calendar, while repayments were at Rs 92,371.15 crore. It said the weighted average yield of primary issuances hardened to 7.33 per cent in Q2 FY23 from 7.23 per cent in Q1 FY23, and added that the weighted average maturity of new issuances of dated securities was lower at 15.62 years in Q2 as compared to 15.69 years in Q1.

During July-September 2022, the central government did not raise any amount through Cash Management Bills. The Reserve Bank did not conduct Open Market operations for government securities during the quarter. It said the net daily average liquidity absorption by RBI under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) including Marginal Standing Facility and Special Liquidity Facility was at Rs 1,28,323.37 crore during the quarter. It said the yields on government securities in secondary market hardened in short-end curve due to near-term inflation and liquidity concern though softening of yield was observed for the longer tenure securities during the second quarter.

It said Monetary Policy Committee decided to hike the policy repo rate by 100 bps, i.e., from 4.90 per cent to 5.90 per cent during Q2 largely with an intention to contain inflation. The ownership pattern of central government securities indicates that share of commercial banks stood at 38.3 per cent at September-end 2022 as against 38.04 per cent on June 30. With regard to foreign exchange reserves, the report said, it stood at USD 532.66 billion as on September 30, 2022, moderated from USD 638.64 billion on September 24, 2021. Between July 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, the rupee depreciated by 3.11 per cent. The value of rupee against the dollar as on July 1 stood at 79.09 as against 81.55 on September 30.

The CNX Nifty ended at 18,122.50, down by 9.80 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 18,068.35 and 18,173.10. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 3.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%, Power Grid Corp up by 1.46%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.39% and UPL up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.35%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.19%, Hindalco down by 1.07%, Tata Steel down by 1.03% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.98% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 11.23 points or 0.17% to 6,539.43 and Germany’s DAX was down by 39.28 points or 0.28% to 13,955.82. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 51.61 points or 0.69% to 7,524.62. 

Asian markets settled mostly down on Wednesday as Treasury yields advanced with uncertainty about US Fed's policy path overshadowed optimism from China’s reopening plans. Moreover, overnight fall in Wall Street shares also dampened markets' sentiments. Japanese shares fell on lingering worries over China's Covid-19 situation. While, data showed Japan's industrial output declined for the third month in a row in November. However, Hong Kong shares rallied after Chief Executive John Lee announced further easing of its Covid restrictions.