Indian equity benchmarks ended
the choppy day of trade with marginal losses, as traders remained on sidelines
ahead of November derivatives expiry and release of September-quarter GDP data
tomorrow. Sentiments also remained
dampened with a private report stating that both goods and services tax (GST)
collections as well as its compliance in the first four months since the
rollout of the new tax regime remain well be below the target, and the
situation is unlikely to improve in the near- term. Though, markets kept their
head above water for most part of the day's trade with traders taking some
encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement who called upon
entrepreneurs from across the globe to make India their base for the world. He
said that India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies and a
happening place with immense opportunities in a number of areas. Some support
also came with Meanwhile, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra
Pradhan made a strong case for inclusion of natural gas in the GST, saying that
if polluting coal can be included, then the environment-friendly fuel certainly
deserves a place in the new regime. However, profit booking in dying hour of
trade dragged markets below their neutral lines to end with modest losses.
Sentiments turned pessimistic with a foreign brokerage firm lowering India's
GDP growth forecast for current fiscal to 6.6 percent from the previous 6.8
percent, citing that businesses were still adjusting to the new GST regime and
there was limited room for fiscal support. Inflation is expected to edge up on
higher commodity prices and stronger demand momentum, whilst the current
account and fiscal deficits run the risk of re-widening. Besides, reports that
the Reserve Bank of India is likely to leave interest rates unchanged at its
December policy meeting and through the end of next year, too weighed
sentiments. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 15.83 points or 0.05% to
33,602.76, while the CNX Nifty was down by 8.95 points or 0.09% to 10,361.30.
The US markets closed mostly
lower on Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new high
even as the Nasdaq Composite logged its worst day in three months as a selloff
in mega-cap technology shares, such as Facebook Inc., Apple Inc., and
Amazon.com Inc., weighed on the tech-heavy index. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen's
last testimony before Congress, the Fed chairwoman was upbeat about the
economic outlook and said inflation was likely to return to the 2% target.
Yellen didn't say anything explicit about what the Fed will do at its meeting
in two weeks. On the economy front, the US economy's pace of growth in the
third quarter was raised to 3.3% from 3% under the government's latest revision
to gross domestic product. The improvement in GDP was spearheaded by stronger
business investment. Spending on equipment, especially in
transportation-related areas, rose 10.4% instead of 8.6%. Firms have increased spending
on ways to deliver goods to customers who order online and to move people
around amid an increase in travel. They are also relying more on technology to
boost production at a time when skilled workers are increasingly hard to find.
The increase in inventories, meanwhile, was raised modestly to $39 billion. The
Nasdaq lost 87.969 points or 1.27 percent to 6,824.39, the S&P 500 edged
lower by 0.97 points or 0.04 percent to 2,626.07, while the Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 103.97 points or 0.44 percent to 23,940.68.
Crude oil futures continued their
decline on Wednesday despite the report of another significant decline in US oil
stockpiles. Traders were concerned with an unexpected build in product
inventories ahead of the OPEC meeting. Meanwhile, Energy Information Agency
(EIA) inventory report showed crude stockpiles fell more-than-estimated, but
both gasoline and distillates supplies unexpectedly rose. Inventories of US
crude fell by roughly 3.4 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 24. Gasoline
inventories rose by 3.6 million barrels, while supplies of distillate unexpectedly
rose by about 2.8 barrels. US crude oil imports averaged over 7.3 million
barrels per day last week, down by 544,000 barrels per day from the previous
week. Benchmark crude oil futures for January delivery ended lower by $0.69 or 1.2
percent at $57.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for
January delivery was down by 0.81 percent to $62.73 a barrel on the ICE.
Indian
rupee pared some of early gains to end marginally stronger against dollar on
Wednesday, due to some dollar demand from importers and corporates. Traders
were taking support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement who called
upon entrepreneurs from across the globe to make India their base for the
world. He said that India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies
and a happening place with immense opportunities in a number of areas. This was
the third consecutive session when the rupee traded higher against dollar.
However, gains were capped with a foreign brokerage firm lowering India's GDP
growth forecast for current fiscal to 6.6 percent from the previous 6.8 percent,
citing that businesses were still adjusting to the new GST regime and there was
limited room for fiscal support. On the global front, dollar held firm on
Wednesday after Wall Street shot to record peaks amid signs of progress on US
tax cuts. Finally, the rupee ended at 64.32, 9 paise stronger from its previous
close of 64.41 on Tuesday.
The
FIIs as per Wednesday'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
5114.49 crore against gross selling of Rs 4330.14 crore, while in the debt
segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1657.53 crore with gross sales of Rs
1690.83 crore.
The US markets made a mixed
closing in the last session and while the Dow climbed to a new record closing
high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined sharply, as traders cashed in on recent
strength among tech stocks. The Asian markets have made a soft start and some
of the indices are down by over half a percent led by the Hong Kong market
which is down by around a percent on slide in tech stocks, following the
overnight slump in US tech stocks. The Indian markets once again declined in
late hours to end modestly in red in the last session, as the traders adopted a
cautious stance ahead of September-quarter GDP data. Today, the start of
F&O series expiry session is likely to be in red on weak global cues and
traders will be eyeing the dataprint for the September quarter GDP that will be
announced later in the day, though it is expected that economic growth pace is
likely to pick up in the three months ending in September, halting a
five-quarter slide as businesses started to overcome teething troubles after
the bumpy launch of a national sales tax. Traders will also be getting some
support with Minister of State for Finance, Shiv Pratap Shukla's statement that
by March 2018, GST will become so simple that people will have no issues. The
steel stocks will be buzzing with a report from Moody's Investors Services
which has said that profitability of Indian steel companies is likely to
improve next year despite an increase in raw material prices. The rating agency
said that among major steel-producing Asian countries, operating conditions
will be most supportive in India because of robust domestic demand and protectionist
measures, and despite an increase in raw material prices and new capacity.
Export oriented stocks too will be in focus as the Finance Ministry has asked
exporters to file GSTR 3B and table 6A of GSTR 1 on the GSTN portal and
Shipping Bill(s) on the Customs EDI System, which are pre-requisites for
sanction of payment.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
10361.30
|
10340.48
|
10387.53
|
BSE Sensex
|
33602.76
|
33527.65
|
33703.34
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
ICICI Bank
|
123.85
|
314.85
|
312.67
|
316.67
|
NTPC
|
123.36
|
182.00
|
180.93
|
183.73
|
SBI
|
112.65
|
328.90
|
325.78
|
333.43
|
ITC
|
86.98
|
258.05
|
257.13
|
258.83
|
Axis Bank
|
63.87
|
549.50
|
543.47
|
558.87
|
Bharti Airtel has entered into a partnership with US-based online education and learning company Coursera.
Coal India is mulling to increase salary of its executives, which may cost the company about Rs 800 crore.
Infosys' product subsidiary - Infosys Finacle has launched the Finacle Trade Connect, a blockchain based trade finance solution for banks.
Mahindra & Mahindra has inaugurated its new office in the Egyptian capital, its first in North Africa.