Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets went through losses in Thursday’s trade with Nifty and Sensex settling below the psychological 23,550 and 77,700 levels respectively. Traders were cautious ahead of TCS Q3 results later today as expectations suggest that revenue for the IT giant is widely expected to remain muted due to higher furloughs in Q3. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index ended deep in red. 

After making cautious start, markets extended their losses amid weakness in global markets. Traders overlooked Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Chairman Abhishek Dev’s statement that Indian exporters have huge opportunities to increase their share in the global agriculture trade from the current 2.4 per cent. The global agriculture trade is about $2 trillion. He said that given these numbers, ‘huge opportunities’ are there to increase exports from the country. In afternoon session, markets added more losses as China’s entrenched consumer disinflation further dented sentiment. Meanwhile, 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to its highest since April after the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes indicated greater concern over inflation. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was last nearly one basis point lower at 4.677%, after earlier topping 4.7% to reach its highest level since late April. In late afternoon session, indices continued their downward trade. The street overlooked reports that the United Nations kept its growth forecast for the Indian economy unchanged at 6.6 percent for 2025, as it noted that private investment and consumption along with strong export growth of services and technology will help sustain the momentum. Finally, markets ended with cut of over half a percent.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green as Germany's industrial production rebounded in November. Industrial output increased 1.5 percent on a monthly basis, in contrast to the revised 0.4 percent decrease in October. Output was expected to grow moderately by 0.5 percent. Asian markets ended mostly in red as investors reacted to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's tariff threats, a buoyant dollar and disappointing Chinese inflation data. Back home, rating agency CRISIL has said that steel prices in 2025 would be much higher than the last year if the proposed safeguard duty on steel imports is imposed by the end of next month.

The BSE Sensex ended at 77,620.21, down by 528.28 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 77,542.92 and 78,206.21. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.96%, while Small cap index was down by 1.17%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was FMCG up by 0.73%, while Realty down by 2.90%, Oil & Gas down by 2.19%, Energy down by 1.83%, Power down by 1.68% and PSU was down by 1.54% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.87%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.50%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.26% and Asian Paints up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.07%, Zomato down by 1.92%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.88%, Tata Motors down by 1.86% and Adani Ports down by 1.78% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Chairman Abhishek Dev has said that Indian exporters have huge opportunities to increase their share in the global agriculture trade from the current 2.4 per cent. The global agriculture trade is about $2 trillion. He said that given these numbers, ‘huge opportunities’ are there to increase exports from the country.

Despite being the seventh largest agri exporter in the world, he said ‘our share is 2.4 per cent in the overall world agri trade and immense possibilities are there to increase this share’. India's agri export was about $50 billion in 2023-24 and this year also, the country is looking at pushing the figure to ‘new record’. He added that the overall focus now is to promote exports of value-added goods.

Talking about exports of organic products, the chairman said India's share in this segment is about 2.5 per cent, ‘but we have an ambitious target of increasing the share four-times in the next five years and we are working on that’. The global market for organic goods is $147 billion. The country's organic food exports have grown at a steady pace and over the past decade, exports of organic products have grown from $213 million in 2012-13 to $494.80 million in 2023 -24.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23526.50, down by 162.45 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 23503.05 and 23689.50. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.24%, Nestle up by 1.63%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.43%, Britannia up by 1.37% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 3.07%, ONGC down by 3.00%, BPCL down by 2.37%, Coal India down by 2.14% and Tata Steel down by 2.04% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 34.38 points or 0.41% to 8,285.41 and France’s CAC was up by 4.56 points or 0.06% to 7,456.98. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by 39.58 points or 0.2% to 20,290.36.

Asian markets settled mostly down on Thursday tracking a mixed close on Wall Street overnight after the release of mixed US jobs data. The payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector job growth slowed more than expected in December, while the Labour Department released a report showing weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in almost eleven months. The minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting revealed that officials expect slower rate cuts in 2025 and remain worried about the inflation impacts from President-elect Donald Trump's policies. Investors’ focus has now shifted to the US nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday that might provide greater clarity on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path for 2025. Chinese and Hong Kong shares declined on disappointing Chinese inflation data that pointed to persistent deflationary pressures in the world's second-largest economy. Data showed that Chinese consumer inflation remained near zero in December, while producer prices continued to slide despite recent stimulus measures. Japanese shares declined and the yen rose against the US dollar on increased speculation over an interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan after strong wage growth for November, while technology shares such as Advantest Corp and Tokyo Electron lost after reports suggested the Biden administration plans one additional round of restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips.