Snapping a five-session rally,
Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on the final trading session of 2023, due
to a drop in Oil & Gas, Energy and PSU stocks. The indices made a negative
start and stayed in red for whole day as traders were concerned with the RBI's
Financial Stability Report stating that the increase in risk weights for
personal loans and loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) may lead to
a decline in the capital adequacy ratio of 71 basis points (bps) of the banking
system. Some pessimism also came as Shashanka Bhide, one of the three external
members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), flagged a weak consumption
demand as a key vulnerability for growth in the second half of the current
fiscal as well as the next financial year. However, losses remained capped as
traders took support with Assocham's statement that India is likely to remain
the fastest-growing major economy in the world in 2024 on the back of strong
consumer demand leading to a pick-up in investment across sectors such as
construction, hospitality and infrastructure including railways and aviation.
Some support also came with report that the government is working on boosting
domestic manufacturing and increasing exports to $500 billion by 2030 from
10-11 sectors. The 11 sectors are auto components, automobiles (including EVs),
capital goods, chemicals, drones, medical devices, aerospace and defence,
leather and footwear, textiles, and space. Overall, the ministry is looking at
taking the country's goods and services exports to $2 trillion by 2030.
Besides, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said the National
E-commerce Policy is in final stages of discussion and will be announced soon.
Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 170.12 points or 0.23% to 72,240.26 and the CNX
Nifty was down by 47.30 points or 0.22% to 21,731.40.
The US markets ended lackluster
trade in red terrain on Friday, last trading session of the year 2023, as some
traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets. Traders
reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of long weekend holiday and
important data in the next week. Traders are wait for the release its closely
watched monthly jobs report next Friday. Reports on manufacturing and service
sector activity may also attract attention along with the minutes of the latest
Federal Reserve meeting. On the economic data front, MNI Indicators released a
report showing a substantial downturn by Chicago-area business activity in the
month of December. MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer tumbled
to 46.9 in December from 55.8 in November, with a reading below 50 indicating
contraction. Street had expected the index to drop to 51.0. On the sectoral
front, airline stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day,
dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.0 percent. Considerable weakness
also emerged among commercial real estate stocks, as reflected by the 1.2
percent loss posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index. Oil service stocks
also moved notably lower amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil,
while weakness was also visible among networking, computer hardware and steel
stocks.
Crude oil futures extended their
losses for third straight session and settled lower on Friday amid easing
concerns about supply disruptions. Oil prices fell sharply in previous session
as some shipping companies said they would resume movements through the Red
Sea, easing supply concerns. Major firms had stopped using Red Sea routes after
Yemen's Houthi militant group began targeting vessels. However, geopolitical
tensions in the Middle East continued to support prices. On Friday, Israel
intensified its attacks in southern Gaza. Benchmark crude oil futures for
January delivery fell by 12 cents or 0.17 percent to settle at $71.65 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery dropped by
11 cents or 0.14 percent to settle at $77.04 a barrel on London's Intercontinental
Exchange.
Indian rupee ended marginally
higher against the US dollar on Friday amid an unabated inflow of foreign
funds. Provisional data from the NSE showed that foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 4,358.99 crore on December 28. Traders
took some support with Assocham stating that India is likely to remain the
fastest-growing major economy in the world in 2024 on the back of strong
consumer demand leading to a pick-up in investment across sectors such as
construction, hospitality and infrastructure including railways and aviation.
However, month-end dollar demand from importers and losses in domestic equity
markets weighed on rupee. On the global front, the dollar edged higher on
Friday but was still set to end 2023 with a loss, reversing two straight years
of gains, dragged down by market expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve
could begin easing interest rates as early as March. Finally, the rupee ended
at 83.16 (Provisional), stronger by 4 paise from its previous close of 83.20 on
Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net buyers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 15920.47 crore against gross selling of Rs 10263.65 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1170.85 crore with
gross sales of Rs 293.47 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 21.63 crore against gross selling of Rs 51.49 crore.
The US markets ended lower on
Friday as investors eyed easier monetary policy in the year ahead. Asian
markets are closed on Monday on account of new year holiday. Indian markets
ended lower on Friday as investors booked profit on the last trading session of
2023 with an aim to avoid any potential global risks over the weekend. Today,
the start of the new, week, month and year is likely to be a bit cautious amid
a lack of triggers from overseas with most global markets remaining shut. There
will be some cautiousness as the output of eight key infrastructure industries
- known as the core sector - slowed to a six-month low of 7.8 per cent in
November on the back of a high base and festival holidays. Besides, data
released by the Controller General of Accounts showed that the central
government's fiscal deficit widened to Rs 9.07 lakh crore in April-November
from Rs 8.04 lakh crore in April-October. At Rs 9.07 lakh crore, the fiscal
deficit for the first eight months of the current financial year accounts for
50.7 percent of the full-year target of Rs 17.87 lakh crore. However,
sentiments will get a boost later in the day as the finance ministry expects
the Indian economy's GDP growth rate in 2023-24 to comfortably exceed its
forecast of 6.5 percent following the blockbuster data for July-September. It
added that despite declining in H1 of the current fiscal, FDI inflows to India
are expected to rebound on account of strong macroeconomic fundamentals,
favourable business environment and rising growth, in the coming months. Some
support may come as data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed that
India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $4 billion to $620 billion in the
week ended December 22. In the current calendar year, the central bank has
added $57.59 billion to its kitty as of December 22. Also, in a remarkable
comeback, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped Rs 1.7 lakh crore into
the Indian equity markets in 2023, propelled by confidence in the country's
robust economic fundamentals amid a challenging global landscape. There will be
some reaction in road & infrastructure industry stocks after Union minister
Nitin Gadkari said the government has sanctioned Rs 1,170.16 crore for 29 roads
projects in Ladakh. Gems and jewellery stocks will be in limelight as GJEPC
said the overall gem and jewellery exports witnessed a on-year decline of 4.52
per cent in November to Rs 19,018.180 crore ($2,263.34 million). 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
|
21,731.40
|
21,682.10
|
21,775.50
|
BSE
Sensex
|
72,240.26
|
72,076.27
|
72,410.64
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
492.03
|
139.30
|
137.21
|
141.31
|
Tata
Motors
|
411.70
|
779.40
|
754.64
|
803.54
|
State
Bank of India
|
132.22
|
641.70
|
637.64
|
647.69
|
ITC
|
128.88
|
462.00
|
459.60
|
466.15
|
NTPC
|
126.83
|
310.50
|
307.65
|
313.85
|
- Tata Steel's Natural Resources
Division has been honoured with the Golden Peacock Innovation Management
Award for the year 2023.
- UPL has received an intimation on
December 28, 2023 about issuance of certificate of incorporation with regards
to new step-down subsidiary viz.
- Bajaj Finserv's subsidiary --
Bajaj Markets has enabled its users to check their CIBIL score for free.
- Grasim Industries' Chemical
Division has successfully commissioned additional 123,000 tons' annual capacity
of Advanced Materials (Epoxy Resins and Formulation) manufacturing capacity at
Vilayat, District Bharuch, Gujarat.