Nifty ends lower on Monday

18 Dec 2023 Evaluate

Indian equity benchmark Nifty ended Monday’s session in red amid some profit booking. India VIX was up by 5.88%. Market made a slightly negative start and turned volatile, as traders were worried with the commerce ministry’s data showing that India’s merchandise exports declined by 2.83 per cent to $33.90 billion in November 2023 as compared to $34.89 billion a year ago. Imports also declined to $54.48 billion in the month under consideration, as against $56.95 billion recorded in November 2022. However, the country's trade deficit exhibited a positive trend, narrowing to $20.58 billion in November. Besides, Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) report showed that India's engineering goods exports registered a 3-per cent year-on-year decline in November to $7.85 billion. It said the dip was primarily attributed to the festive season that disrupted operations in major engineering export belts across the country, particularly in northern and western regions. 

Traders ignored former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that India will become the world’s third largest economy by 2026 as its GDP in current dollar terms will reach $5 trillion in that year and further rise to $5.5 trillion in 2027. In afternoon session, index extended its losses as sentiments remained pessimistic after economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) in its latest report has showed that India's exports and imports of goods and services are likely to dip by 2.6 per cent to $1,609 billion in 2023 as against $1,651.9 billion in 2022. Market continued to trade lower till end and ended below its crucial 21450 mark.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Pharma and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in Bank, IT and Realty. The top gainers from the F&O segment were IRCTC, Siemens and Zydus Lifesciences. On the other hand, the top losers were India Cements, Balkrishna Industries and Godrej Properties. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 21450 - 21600 calls and 20950 - 21300 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

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