Indian equity benchmarks concluded last trading session of calendar
year (CY) 2020 on a flat note, as investors tracked news related to Covid-19
vaccines rollout across the globe for further bets. For most part of the day,
benchmarks traded in a choppy manner, as future and option contracts for the
month of December expired. Traders remained cautious with Finance ministry in
its latest quarterly report on public debt management has said that total liabilities
of the government increased to Rs 107.04 lakh crore at end of Q2 (July-
September) of FY21 from Rs 101.3 lakh crore at end of Q1 (April-June) of FY21.
This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.6 percent in Q2 FY21. Some
anxiety also came with data showing that India's current account surplus
moderated to $15.5 billion (2.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product) in quarter
ended September 2020 (Q2FY21) from $19.2 billion (3.8 per cent of GDP) in
(Q1FY21). The current account balance was in deficit to the tune of $7.6
billion in Q2 of 2019-20 (1.1 per cent of GDP). However, traders found some
support with report that President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that next year
Russia and India would continue to work towards stepping up constructive bilateral
cooperation as well as coordinating efforts to address topical issues on the
regional and global agendas. Traders also took note of report that Federation
of Indian Exports Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf stated that
the country's exports may reach $290 billion by the end of this fiscal (FY21)
as the outbound shipments were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic during the
first half of the year. He also said that 2021 would bring a ray of hope and
optimism for the exporting community. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has said
that an import monitoring system (IMS) is being developed for several sectors,
including aluminium, copper, footwear, furniture, sports goods, and gym
equipment. The system would help gather advanced information on imports of
these products and make it available to the stakeholders, including government
and domestic industries. The system is already in place for steel and coal.
Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 5.11 points or 0.01% to 47,751.33, while the CNX
Nifty was down by 0.20 points to 13,981.75.
The US markets ended higher on Thursday as traders looked to give
their portfolio a boost going into the end of the year. Traders seemed
reluctant to make significant moves for much of the session, with some likely
looking to get a head start on New Year's Eve celebrations. The gains on the
day capped off a strong year for US stocks, which moved sharply higher for 2020
despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For the year, the Dow jumped by 7.3
percent and the S&P 500 surged up by 16.3 percent, while the tech-heavy
Nasdaq skyrocketed 43.6 percent. The substantial gain by the Nasdaq came as
tech stocks benefited from the stay-at-home orders issued in response to the
spread of the deadly coronavirus. On the economic data front, the Labor
Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest drop in first-time
claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended December 26th. The Labor
Department said initial jobless claims edged down to 787,000, a decrease of
19,000 from the previous week's revised level of 806,000. The dip surprised
participants, who had expected jobless claims to rise to 833,000 from the
803,000 originally reported for the previous month.
Crude oil
futures ended higher on Thursday despite concerns about the outlook for energy
demand due to imposition of restrictions on movements in several countries amid
a surge in coronavirus cases. In the US, daily new case rate crossed the
200,000 mark for the second consecutive day. With nearly 230,000 new cases reporting
across the country in the last 24 hours, the total number of patients infected
with the disease increased to over 19,744,700. Meanwhile, the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia, are
scheduled to meet on January 4 to discuss policy and to consider a possible
tapering of production cuts. Crude oil futures for February rose $0.12 or 0.3
percent to settle at $48.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March
Brent crude gained $0.17 or 0.3 percent to settle at $51.80 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Continuing
gaining momentum, Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Thursday
supported by sustained foreign fund inflows and weakness of the American
currency in the overseas market. Sentiments were upbeat with Federation of
Indian Exports Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf's statement
that the country's exports may reach $290 billion by the end of this fiscal
(FY21) as the outbound shipments were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic during
the first half of the year. Traders ignored Finance ministry's latest quarterly
report on public debt management stating that the total liabilities of the
government increased to Rs 107.04 lakh crore at end of Q2 (July- September) of FY21
from Rs 101.3 lakh crore at end of Q1 (April-June) of FY21. On the global
front; dollar was ending 2020 in a downward spiral on Thursday with investors
wagering a global economic recovery will suck money into riskier assets even as
the U.S. has to borrow ever more to fund its swelling twin deficits. Finally,
the rupee ended at 73.07, 24 paise stronger from its previous close of 73.31 on
Wednesday
The FIIs as per
Thursday's data were net buyer in equity segment, while net seller in debt
segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5386.06 crore against
gross selling of Rs 3623.35 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross
purchase was of Rs 803.00 crore with gross sales of Rs 963.72 crore. Besides,
in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9.48 crore against gross
selling of Rs 23.73 crore.
The US markets
ended higher as rollout of coronavirus vaccines have bolstered expectations
that the economy will quickly rebound from the pandemic. Most of the Asian
markets are closed on Friday on account of the New Year holiday. Indian equity
markets ended last trading day of Calendar Year 2020 on a flat note. Today, the
start of the New Year is likely to be positive. Traders will be getting some
encouragement with NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar stating that India's
economy will grow at 10 per cent in real terms and by the end of next year it
will reach pre-COVID-19 level. Talking about the farmers' protest against the
three agriculture laws, the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman said the government is
trying its best to get their understanding and that they are not misguided and
their doubts are cleared. Some support may also come on report that foreign
direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India grew 21 per cent to USD 35.33
billion during April-October period of the current financial year. In the
year-ago period, FDI equity inflows stood at USD 29.31 billion. Meanwhile,
retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 5.27 per cent in November
compared to 5.91 per cent in October, mainly due to lower prices of certain
food items. However, traders will remain concern on report that contracting for
the ninth consecutive month, the output of eight core infrastructure sectors
dropped by 2.6 per cent in November, mainly due to decline in production of
natural gas, refinery products, steel and cement. The production of eight core
sectors had recorded a growth of 0.7 per cent in November 2019. Meanwhile,
India's federal fiscal deficit in the eight months to the end of November stood
at 10.75 trillion rupees, or 135.1% of the budgeted target for the whole fiscal
year. Net tax receipts were 6.88 trillion rupees, while total expenditure came
to 19.06 trillion rupees.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
13,981.75
|
13,937.18
|
14,025.58
|
BSE Sensex
|
47,751.33
|
47,603.31
|
47,898.16
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
NTPC
|
503.63
|
99.45
|
98.22
|
100.47
|
Tata Motors
|
489.78
|
183.50
|
181.70
|
186.40
|
ONGC
|
437.01
|
93.10
|
91.92
|
94.92
|
SBIN
|
294.68
|
274.40
|
272.25
|
276.90
|
ICICI Bank
|
278.18
|
534.00
|
527.50
|
539.50
|
Tata Steel has installed a state-of-the-art Long Pipe Conveyor (LPC) at its opencast coal mines at West Bokaro Division.
Larsen & Toubro's construction arm -- L&T construction has secured orders from prestigious clients for two of its businesses.
The Mahindra Group has published the findings of the Mahindra Good Business Study, outlining revealing people's changing definition of what a Good Business actually means.
Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has declared that all calls from its network to other networks anywhere in India will be free from January 1, 2021.