In a volatile session, Indian
equity benchmarks ended Thursday's trading session at record closing peaks and
also finished higher for the fifth consecutive session, fuelled by a global
rally over the optimism that the US central bank would start cutting rates as
soon as next March. Markets made a positive start and extended the gains as the
day progressed, as traders took support with provisional data from the NSE
showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers for the
first time in the last seven consecutive sessions, buying shares worth Rs
2,926.05 crore on December 27. Some optimism also came with a report released
by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) showing that India is
set to become the world's third-largest economy by 2032, and will eventually
surpass China and the United States to become the world's largest economic
superpower by the end of this century. It added India will sustain robust
economic growth, averaging 6.5 percent from 2024 to 2028. Markets extended
gains in late afternoon deals, taking support from data showing that investment
in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes (P-Note) jumped to Rs
1.31 lakh crore by the end of November 2023, bouncing back from a decline in
the previous month, owing to the robust performance of the domestic market.
Before registering a decline in October, investments through P-notes have been
increasing continuously since March, following the stable Indian economy
against an uncertain global macro backdrop. Sentiments remained positive with
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statement that India will begin trade
negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) bloc of countries for a
free trade deal in January. Traders took a note of the Department of Financial
Services Secretary Vivek Joshi's statement that India Inc needs to think big
and bold, and kickstart a new private sector investment cycle. Joshi also asked
banks to include stress testing of cyber risks as part of the risk assessment
framework. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 371.95 points or 0.52% to 72,410.38 and
the CNX Nifty was up by 123.95 points or 0.57% to 21,778.70.
The US markets ended flat with
mostly positive on Thursday. Markets turned in a lackluster performance during
trading. The choppy trading on markets came even after the Labor Department
released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose
by more than expected in the week ended December 23rd. The report said initial
jobless claims climbed to 218,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous
week's revised level of 206,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up
to 210,000 from the 205,000 originally reported for the previous week. While
the data added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates, traders
remained reluctant to make significant moves going into the end of the year. The
National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a report showing pending home
sales were unexpectedly unchanged in the month of November. NAR said its
pending home sales index stayed at 71.6 in November after tumbling by a revised
1.2 percent in October. Street had expected pending home sales to jump by 1.0
percent compared to the 1.5 percent slump originally reported for the previous
month. On the sectoral front, reflecting the lackluster performance by the
broader markets, most of the major sectors showed only moves on the day. Gold
stocks saw considerable weakness, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index
tumbling by 2.5 percent after ending Wednesday's trading at a five-month
closing high. The weakness among gold stocks came as the price of gold for
February delivery fell $9.60 to $2,083.50 an ounce.
Crude oil futures ended deeply
lower on Thursday on easing concerns about trade disruptions after several
shipping companies announced their decision to resume transit via the Red Sea.
Crude oil prices fell despite data from U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA) showing crude stockpiles fell by nearly 7 million barrels in the week
ended December 22, as against an expected drop of 2.7 million barrels.
Meanwhile, Gasoline stocks dropped by 0.575 million barrels last week, as
against a 0.208 million barrels build, while distillate stockpiles increased
0.833 million barrels, compared with expectations of an increase of 0.6 million
barrels. Benchmark crude oil futures for January delivery fell by $2.34 or 3.2
percent to settle at $71.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent
crude for March delivery dropped by $2.39 or 3 percent to settle at $77.15 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee snapped its two-day
downtrend to end higher against the US dollar on Thursday, amid a weak American
currency overseas and a rally in domestic equity markets. The inflow of foreign
funds and a downward trend in crude oil prices also supported the Indian
currency. Traders took support with a report released by the Centre for
Economics and Business Research (CEBR) showing that India is set to become the
world's third-largest economy by 2032, and will eventually surpass China and
the United States to become the world's largest economic superpower by the end
of this century. It added India will sustain robust economic growth, averaging
6.5 percent from 2024 to 2028. On the global front, the dollar fell across the
board on Thursday with the Japanese yen, euro, and pound all at their strongest
against the greenback in five months as bets the Federal Reserve will cut rates
sharply in 2024 continued to drive markets. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.19
(Provisional), stronger by 15 paise from its previous close of 83.34 on
Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data
were net buyers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 10903.88 crore against gross selling of Rs 7700.64 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 747.61 crore with gross
sales of Rs 131.20 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 38.75 crore against gross selling of Rs 40.42 crore.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Thursday as Wall Street looks to end a winning year on a high note
and possibly a new milestone. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday with
investors assessing prospects of electric vehicle companies after China's
Xiaomi unveiled its first EV. Indian markets hit new highs for the second
consecutive day on Thursday as the markets wager on aggressive interest rate
cuts by the Federal Reserve next year. Today, the last trading session of the
year 2023 will get a flat-to-positive start tracking positive cues from global
peers. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid sentiments. Provisional data from the
NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs
4,358.99 crore on December 28. Sentiments will get a boost as Assocham said
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 will come 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. There will be some buzz in the banking stocks as the RBI's
Financial Stability Report said 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. Oil marketing companies' stocks will be in focus with a private report
that the Petroleum Ministry has prepared a proposal incorporating the cuts on
petrol and diesel ahead of general elections of 2024. As per the report, the
cuts could be in the range of Rs 4 to Rs 10 per litre. There will be some
reaction in stocks related to plastic industry as the Plastic Export Promotion
Council (Plexconcil) said plastic exports from India witnessed a yearly decline
of 5.6 per cent in November to $892 million mainly due to drop in shipments of
miscellaneous products. In November 2022, the total plastic exports stood at
$945 million. Meanwhile, Innova Captab shares will debut on the stock exchanges
on Friday at an issue price of Rs 448 apiece.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
21,778.70
|
21,703.99
|
21,827.44
|
BSE
Sensex
|
72,410.38
|
72,203.78
|
72,550.67
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Power
Grid
|
391.64
|
237.95
|
234.71
|
240.56
|
NTPC
|
375.92
|
315.45
|
310.30
|
318.05
|
Tata
Steel
|
346.61
|
138.25
|
137.15
|
139.05
|
Coal
India
|
283.10
|
381.00
|
370.36
|
387.06
|
ICICI
Bank
|
249.16
|
1005.55
|
999.20
|
1011.80
|
- Larsen & Toubro's
construction arm -- L&T construction has secured key orders for its Power
Transmission & Distribution business in the Middle East region.
- Tata Motors has accelerated
Bengaluru's electrified public transport with the delivery of
technologically-advanced Starbus EVs to Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport
Corporation.
- NTPC is planning towards listing
its green energy vertical in the next 1-2 years, as it anticipates higher
demand going forward.
- Reliance Industries' telecom arm
-- Reliance Jio Infocomm is working with Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay
to launch a 'Bharat GPT' programme.