Indian equity benchmarks ended
the final session of Calendar Year (CY) 2017 on strong note and frontline
gauges settled at all time closing high levels, surpassing their crucial 10,500
(Nifty) and 34,000 (Sensex) levels. The markets' mood remained up-beat
throughout the day and benchmarks, after a positive start, fervently gained
from strength to strength to end near all time high levels, as investors
continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Traders remained encouraged
with Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) decision to relax entry
norms for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) willing to invest in the Indian
markets. Besides, the markets regulator would allow listing of security
receipts issued by an asset reconstruction company (ARC) on stock exchange
platform. Some support also came with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's statement
that the government is working on a policy to bring down the annual oil import
bill by $100 billion by 2030 through extensive use of methanol in cooking gas
and transportation fuel. The minster added that the government is shortly going
to implement a scheme under which 15 percent methanol will be blended with
petrol and which will reduce the cost of the fuel by 10 percent. Traders
shrugged off study report of the industry body Assocham, which has said that a
slowdown in the economy coupled with high stress level in the banking sector is
expected to restrict credit growth at around 8 percent during the current
fiscal despite government's thrust on loan expansion. Traders also ignored
rating agency ICRA's statement that rising commodity prices, especially that of
crude oil that has hit a three-year peak last week, will double current account
deficit (CAD) to $39 billion or 1.5 percent of GDP this fiscal year. Market
participants also paid no heed towards Finance minister Arun Jaitley's
statement that the direct tax collection stood at Rs 6.48 lakh crore up to
December 18, which is below the Budget estimates of Rs 9.8 lakh crore. Indirect
tax collection (excluding GST collection) was at Rs 3.66 crore and the same
including GST collection at Rs 7.3 lakh crore, which is below the Budget
estimates of Rs 9.27 lakh crore. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 208.80 points
or 0.62% to 34,056.83, while the CNX Nifty was up by 52.80 points or 0.50% to
10,530.70
The US markets closed lower on
Friday, putting a negative tinge to an otherwise positive year as selling
accelerated in the final minutes of a thinly traded session. Some of the
selling followed on report that Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North
Korea in recent months, a development that could add another element of
geopolitical uncertainty to markets, particularly given the strained relations
between the US and Moscow in 2017. All three major averages ended lower for the
week but closed higher for the month of December. There were no major economic
data releases on Friday. More broadly, expectations are growing that President
Donald Trump's administration will shift attention to a $1 trillion
infrastructure-spending bill, which could deliver a further jolt to Wall Street
buying after Republicans passed the most sweeping overhaul of the US tax code
in 30 years as well as a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded
into early 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 118.29 points or 0.48
percent to 24,719.22 and the Nasdaq dropped 46.771 points or 0.67 percent to
6,903.39, and the S&P 500 edged lower by 13.93 points or 0.52 percent to
2,673.61.
Crude oil futures surged on
Friday to close above $60 a barrel on the final trading day of the year, the
first time since mid-2015. Traders largely shrugged off the news that Libya's
damaged pipeline will get back online in January. Traders assessed Baker Hughes
data showing the U.S. rig count remained flat week, and Canadian rigs dropped
sharply. Libya is to start repairing the pipeline near the Es Sider terminal
this weekend, while the Forties pipeline was already pumping close to normal
levels. Meanwhile, Baker Hughes showed the North American oil rig count, an
early indicator of future output, remained unchanged at 747. Benchmark crude
oil futures for January delivery ended higher by $0.58 or 1% at $60.42 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery was up by 0.68
percent to $66.61 a barrel on the ICE.
Extending
its previous session's gains, Indian rupee concluded last trading session of
Calendar Year (CY) 2017 on an upbeat note on Friday, as exporters and banks
intensified selling of the US currency. Rupee throughout the day remained
positive, taking support with a private report that consumer confidence in
India is likely to remain high over the next six months with a very optimistic
outlook. Some comfort was also came with Securities and Exchange Board of
India's (SEBI's) decision to relax entry norms for Foreign Portfolio Investors
(FPIs) willing to invest in the Indian markets. Besides, good going in the
local equity markets, also aided the local currency to gain more ground. On the
global front, dollar slipped to its lowest in more than three months against a
basket of major currencies on Friday, as the euro and sterling climbed, putting
the greenback on track for an almost 10 percent fall over the year - its worst showing
since 2003. Finally, the rupee ended at
63.87, 21 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.08 on Thursday.
The
FIIs as per Friday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while they were
net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs
5527.12 crore against gross selling of Rs 4666.78 crore, while in the debt
segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 488.37 crore with gross sales of Rs
609.68 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10.88
crore against gross selling of Rs 17.92 crore.
The US markets made a lower
closing of the final trading day of the year, but were sharply higher for the year;
the decline was mainly due to investors deciding to do some profit taking
following the strong upward move seen in 2017. Most of the major Asian markets
are closed for trading today. The Indian markets snapped the year 2017 on a
jubilant note with benchmarks posting gains of over half a percent on the final
trading day of the year. Today, the start of the new, week, month and year is
likely to be a bit cautious lacking any supportive triggers. There will be some
concern with fiscal deficit at the end of November breaching the target and
touching 112 percent of the budget estimate for 2017-18, mainly due to lower
GST collections and higher expenditure. Fiscal deficit was Rs 6.12 lakh crore
during April-November 2017-18. Traders will also be concerned with government
statement that Indian economy slowed down in 2016-17, with the gross domestic product
declining drastically from 8 percent in 2015-16 to 7.1 percent the next year.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the slower economic growth reflected lower
growth in the industry and the services sectors, due to a number of factors
including structural, external, fiscal and monetary factors. However, there
will be some support with report that the government has extended by 10 days
the last date for filing of final sales return GSTR-1 till January 10 under the
Goods and Services Tax. Businesses with turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore will
have to file GSTR-1 for July-September by January 10, 2018, as against December
31, 2017 earlier. Meanwhile, auto stocks will be in focus today, on declaring
their monthly sales number for December.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
10530.70
|
10500.00
|
10550.05
|
BSE Sensex
|
34056.83
|
33935.46
|
34132.12
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
SBI
|
119.40
|
309.90
|
308.63
|
311.58
|
ICICI Bank
|
96.38
|
314.00
|
312.42
|
315.67
|
Tata Motors
|
86.41
|
431.85
|
421.52
|
437.82
|
Axis Bank
|
83.63
|
563.95
|
551.35
|
572.20
|
NTPC
|
74.17
|
177.00
|
175.78
|
178.23
|
Reliance Industries' subsidiary - Reliance Jio Infocomm has inked a definitive agreement for the acquisition of specified assets of Reliance Communications and its affiliates.
SBI has introduced a special leave for employees who have suffered bereavement in the family.
ONGC has organized cyclothon in six metro cities to create awareness on fuel conservation as well as protection of environment.
IOC would initiate production of second generation ethanol by utilizing crop residues and other biomass as feedstock at village Baoli in Panipat district of Haryana.