Last hour buying pushed Indian
equity bourses to end near their intraday high points on Wednesday. After a
positive start, indices traded in green terrain for the most part of the
session, aided with Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari's statement
that the government would spend a whopping Rs 5 trillion over the next two
years in infrastructure projects to spur the economy and create thousands of
jobs. However, volatility hit over the markets in noon deals, as the Asian
Development Bank lowered forecast for India to 5.1% for 2019 from its September
estimates of 6.5% as the foundering of a major nonbanking financial company in
2018 led to a rise in risk aversion in the financial sector and a credit
crunch. In late noon deals, markets entered into red terrain, after Minister of
State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur informed that as many as 52,720
Integrated GST refund claims are pending for more than one year. But, bourses
bounced back to end higher, taking support with Commerce Minister Piyush
Goyal's statement that the government has carried out a number of reforms in
various sectors & it is a continuous process for improvement in the
economy. He said some of the reforms were by way of amendments in various acts
such as the Finance (Amendment) Bills, the Special Economic Zones (Amendment)
Bill, amendments in the Goods and Services Tax Act and the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 172.69 points or 0.43% to
40,412.57, while the CNX Nifty was up by 53.35 points or 0.45% to 11,910.15.
The US markets ended higher on
Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced its decision to leave interest
rates unchanged after three straight rate cuts. The Fed said its Federal Open
Market Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds
rate at 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 percent on the heels of three straight quarter-point
reductions. The decision was widely anticipated, although the Fed's economic
projections provided along with the announcement also showed a majority of
meeting participants now expect interest rates to remain on hold throughout
2020. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that he would not consider raising
rates until inflation picks up significantly. The Fed downwardly revised its
forecast for core consumer price growth in 2019 to 1.6 percent from 1.8
percent, while the inflation estimates for the next three years were unchanged.
In its accompanying statement, the Fed said the current stance of monetary
policy is appropriate to support a sustained economic expansion, strong labor
market conditions, and inflation near its symmetric 2 percent objective. On the
economic data front, a report released by the Labor Department showed consumer
prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than anticipated in the month of
November. The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.3
percent in November after climbing by 0.4 percent in October. Street had
expected prices to edge up by 0.2 percent. The bigger than expected increase in
consumer prices partly reflected continued growth in energy prices, which
climbed by 0.8 percent in November after spiking by 2.7 percent in October.
Gasoline prices jumped by 1.1 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, core
consumer prices crept up by 0.2 percent in November, matching the uptick seen
in the previous month as well as street estimates. A 0.3 percent increase in
prices for shelter contributed to the growth along with higher prices for
medical care, recreation, used cars and trucks and apparel.
Crude oil futures ended lower on
Wednesday after US government data showed an unexpected climb in domestic
supplies of crude oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported
that US crude supplies edged up by 800,000 barrels for the week ended December
6, compared with street's expectation for a 2.8 million-barrel drop. The
American Petroleum Institute (API) reported Tuesday that US crude supplies rose
by 1.4 million barrels last week. The EIA data also showed supply increases of
5.4 million barrels for gasoline and 4.1 million barrels for distillates.
Besides, worries about the outlook for crude demand in the near term amid the
ongoing uncertainty about US-China trade deal and slowing global growth also
weighed on oil prices. Benchmark crude oil futures for January fell 48 cents or
0.8 percent to settle at $58.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
January Brent declined 62 cents or 1 percent to settle at $ 63.72 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended higher against
dollar for sixth straight session on Wednesday, due to increased selling of the
American currency by banks and exporters. Traders took encouragement from
government's report that demonetization followed by digitalization has
succeeded in reducing incremental growth in currency in circulation by over Rs
3 lakh crore. The notes in circulation (NIC) as on November 4, 2016 were worth
Rs 17,74,187 crore which have increased to Rs 22,35,648 crore as on December 2,
2019. However, upward move got restricted with Asian Development Bank's (ADB)
report as it lowered its forecast for India to 5.1% for 2019 from its September
estimates of 6.5% as the foundering of a major nonbanking financial company in
2018 led to a rise in risk aversion in the financial sector and a credit
crunch. On global front, dollar edged higher as investors awaited the outcome
of the Federal Reserve meeting and drew some support from hopes that U.S.
President Donald Trump will delay the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods.
Finally, the rupee ended at 70.85, 7 paise stronger from its previous close of
70.92 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 70.94 and 70.74
respectively.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data
were net sellers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 4305.38 crore against gross selling of Rs 4487.31 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1188.21 crore with gross
sales of Rs 5130.51 crore. In the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs
1.81 crore against gross selling of Rs 2.57 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net
sellers of Rs 0.76 crore in hybrid segment.
The US markets ended higher on
Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it will likely not raise rates in
2020, removing the fear among investors that it would repeat a mistake it made
last year by tightening monetary policy prematurely and knocking the stock
market. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday following gains
on Wall Street. Indian markets ended near intraday high levels on Wednesday
mainly on the back of late hour buying led by public sector and information
technology stocks. Today, the markets are likely to make optimistic start
tracking positive global cues. Market participants will be looking ahead to the
industrial production data for the month of October and CPI inflation for
November which will be released later in the day. Some support will come as the
Union Cabinet approved changes to the insolvency law, including a provision to
ring-fence successful resolution applicants from criminal proceedings with
regard to offences committed by previous promoters of a company. The amendments
to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) are aimed at removing certain
difficulties being faced during insolvency resolution process to realise the
objects of the Code and to further ease doing of business. Traders may take
note of a US diplomat's statement that India needs to demonstrate to the
international community its willingness to become a part of the global supply
chain by taking steps towards resolving larger market access issues. However,
there may be some cautiousness amid a report that with pressure on revenue
collection, the goods and services tax (GST) rates and slabs may be raised during
the GST Council meeting next week. Some concern may also come with report that
Standard & Poor Global Ratings has said it will downgrade India's sovereign
rating if the country's economic growth does not recover. There will be some
buzz in the banking stocks as the Union Cabinet approved a partial credit
guarantee scheme for public sector banks (PSBs) to purchase high-rated pooled
assets from financially sound NBFCs and housing finance companies. Auto stocks
will be in focus with automobile dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers
Associations' (FADA) statement that retail sales of passenger vehicles in
November increased 1 per cent to 2,57,271 units against the same period last
year, driven by festive demand during the month. Meanwhile, Ujjivan Small
Finance Bank will make its market debut on December 12 after an overwhelming
response for its Rs 750 crore initial public offering (IPO). There is
expectation that the stock may debut at 50 per cent premium over the issue
price of Rs 37 per share.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE
(Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,910.15
|
11,853.90
|
11,944.80
|
BSE Sensex
|
40,412.57
|
40,209.92
|
40,540.68
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
GAIL (India)
|
280.00
|
117.30
|
112.68
|
119.78
|
ZEEL
|
288.58
|
283.45
|
273.13
|
289.78
|
NTPC
|
87.47
|
113.00
|
110.80
|
114.50
|
IOC
|
82.96
|
125.55
|
123.43
|
126.88
|
ONGC
|
68.79
|
128.00
|
125.83
|
129.33
|
HDFC Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Storeking, a distribution platform connecting brands to small towns and villages of India.
Yes Bank's board is planning to consider the offer of $500 million investment of Citax Holdings and Citax Investment Group.
Tata Consultancy Services' strategic unit -- TCS iON has entered into a partnership with the Additional Skill Acquisition Programme.
Bharti Airtel is looking for shareholders' approval for raising $2 billion in equity and another $1 billion in debt to pay for statutory dues arising out of a recent Supreme Court ruling.