Indian equity benchmarks traded
volatile on Friday but managed to end in green for second straight session,
following buying in Realty, IT and Metal stocks and firm cues from the US markets.
After flat start, markets gained traction and were trading higher as traders
took support with Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh
Agrawal's statement that India's agriculture exports this fiscal are expected
to reach the last year's level of $53 billion despite restrictions imposed on
shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar. Traders
took a note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that Central
Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) have made 34.63 per cent of their total
procurement from MSMEs in 2023-24 (till November) as against the mandated 25
per cent. However, volatility struck the bourses in afternoon deals, as markets
trimmed most of their early gains amid foreign fund outflows. Provisional data
from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,636.19 crore on December 21. Some
concern also came as crude oil futures surged due to Red Sea route avoidance
post-Houthi militant attacks, impacting MCX January and February crude futures.
However, final-hour buying helped indices to close near the day's high.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it will conduct a seven-day
variable rate repo auction for a notified amount of Rs 1.75 lakh crore on
December 22. This announcement came when the liquidity in the banking system
was in a huge deficit of around Rs 2.27 lakh crore. Finally, the BSE Sensex
rose 241.86 points or 0.34% to 71,106.96 and the CNX Nifty was up by 94.35 points
or 0.44% to 21,349.40.
The US markets were closed on Monday on account of
Christmas.
Indian rupee ended higher against
dollar on Friday on selling of American currency by banks and exporters and
positive trend in domestic equities. Traders got support with Additional
Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal's statement that India's
agriculture exports this fiscal are expected to reach the last year's level of
$53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key
commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar. However, gains remain capped due
to continuous upward movement in the crude oil price triggered by evolving
geopolitical situation and outflow of foreign funds. Provisional data from the
National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors
(FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,636.19 crore on December 21. On the global
front, the dollar inched up on Friday ahead of U.S. inflation data that could shape
expectations for how quickly interest rates might fall in 2024. Finally, the
rupee ended at 83.16 (Provisional), stronger by 11 paise from its previous
close of 83.27 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers in debt segment.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10105.46 crore against gross
selling of Rs 11416.62 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 1939.38 crore with gross sales of Rs 1486.04 crore. Besides, in the
hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 19.01 crore against gross selling of
Rs 16.53 crore.
The US markets remained closed on
Monday on account of Christmas. On Friday, markets ended mostly higher after
revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment
in the U.S. improved by slightly more than initially estimated in the month of
December. Asian markets are trading mixed on Tuesday in thin trade as investors
were still digesting data released on Friday that showed U.S. prices fell in
November for the first time in more than 3-1/2 years, underscoring the
economy's durability. Indian markets ended higher for the second consecutive
session on Friday amid buying across the sectors, barring banks. Today,
domestic indices are likely to resume trade after the extended holiday break on
positive note. Markets were closed on Monday owing to the Christmas holiday.
Foreign fund inflows likely to aid sentiments. Foreign portfolio investors
(FPIs) have injected over Rs 57,300 crore into the Indian equity markets this
month so far owing to political stability, robust economic growth, and a steady
decline in the US bond yields. With this, total investment by FPIs surpassed Rs
1.62 lakh crore this year. Traders will be taking encouragement as leading credit
rating firm Fitch Ratings expects that India's resilient economic growth will
boost demand of the corporates. In its latest research report on India
Corporates: Sector Trends 2024, Fitch said that this is a sequel to the robust
performance of the corporates in 2023 and will offset weakness from slowing
growth in the key overseas markets. Some support will come as latest data from
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that forex reserves rose $9.1 billion to
a near two-year high of $616 billion in the week ended December 15. The quantum
of increase in the week ended December 15 is the highest since July 14. Some
optimism will come with report that foreign direct investments into India is
likely to gather momentum in 2024 as healthy macroeconomic numbers, better
industrial output as well as attractive PLI schemes will attract more overseas
players amid geopolitical headwinds and tighter interest rate regime globally.
Traders may take note of Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal's
statement that the Centre has taken many pro-active steps in last few years to
control retail prices of food items and added the government will keep
inflation under control while ensuring country's economic growth. However, a
surge in new Covid-19 cases may cap the upside. India logged a total of 628 new
Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while the active caseload jumped to 4,054.
Also, trading activity may remain volatility this week due to the scheduled
expiry of December month derivative contracts and major economic data. There
will be some reaction in oil & gas sector stocks data from the Petroleum
Planning and Analysis Cell showed that the country's crude import bill
decreased significantly to $87.1 billion in the April to November period from
$113.4 billion in the same period last fiscal even as the import volume
remained largely unchanged. Meanwhile, Muthoot Microfin and Suraj Estate
Developers will debut on the bourses today.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
21,349.40
|
21,257.74
|
21,415.79
|
BSE
Sensex
|
71,106.96
|
70,793.83
|
71,339.82
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
373.57
|
133.45
|
131.89
|
134.89
|
HDFC
Bank
|
242.89
|
1668.70
|
1661.90
|
1680.70
|
Wipro
|
230.40
|
461.90
|
441.84
|
474.14
|
ICICI
Bank
|
208.82
|
994.75
|
987.71
|
1005.66
|
NTPC
|
152.08
|
302.75
|
298.59
|
307.94
|
- Tata Motors' subsidiary -- Tata
Passenger Electric Mobility has launched its TATA.ev stores, catering solely to
EV customers.
- Bharti Airtel's video streaming
service -- Airtel Xstream Play has partnered with aha Tamil and Telugu.
- HDFC Life Insurance Company and
NKGSB Co-operative Bank have entered into a Corporate Agency tie-up enabling
NKGSB Co-operative Bank customers to avail life insurance products of HDFC
Life.
- UPL has received approval for the
proposal for fund raising for an amount aggregating upto Rs 4,200 crore subject
to receipt of statutory / regulatory approvals.