Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended in red on Thursday. Markets made cautious start, ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts. Traders got worried, as a private report said that even though the overall outlook for corporates have improved on the back of faster than expected recovery, and the same is likely to gain further traction in H2 but the rising commodity prices and logistics cost pose headwinds to their profitability.

Bears held a tight grip over the Dalal Street during the trading session, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were also negative, as over 92 per cent of the eight crore informal sector workers registered on the e-Shram portal have a monthly income of Rs 10,000 or below and 72 per cent of the enrolled workforce belong to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC), according to the latest data.
 
Traders took a note of former RBI Deputy Governor N S Vishwanathan’s statement that money laundering and lack of clarity on valuations are the primary concerns of central banks in being circumspect about the introduction of cryptocurrencies. However, markets cut some losses in the last hours of the trade, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there are clear signs of an uptick in the economy and the industry should now start taking risks and invest in capacity creation that will help cut reliance on imports.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green after a strong earnings season fuelled a series of all-time highs, while weakness in oil and metal prices hit commodity-related stocks. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, even after non-oil domestic exports in Singapore climbed a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent on month in October, Singapore's statistics department said on Wednesday. That easily exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent following the downwardly revised 1.0 percent gain in September.

The BSE Sensex ended at 59636.01, down by 372.32 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 59376.50 and 60177.52. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.68%, while Small cap index down by 1.52%. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.76%, Auto down by 2.32%, Capital Goods down by 1.89%, Basic Materials down by 1.77% and Industrials down by 1.70%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.16%, Power Grid up by 0.63%, HDFC Bank up by 0.58%, Reliance Industries up by 0.35% and ICICI Bank up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.28%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.19%, HCL Tech. down by 2.88%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.74% and Tata Steel down by 2.72% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, urging the industry to seize the opportunities presented by Atmanirbhar Bharat, ramp up capacities, create job opportunities and empower people with skill sets, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Union government's intention is to make the business landscape easy and facilitative.

Finance Minister requested India Inc to venture into new areas, find partners to upgrade technologically, invest in infrastructure and adopt a growth-oriented focus. Also, Finance Minister outlined some of the priority areas for the government which include infrastructure building and technology driven infrastructure.

Nirmala Sitharaman further noted that Fintech and Bharat Net are reaching the farthest corners of the country which present collateral benefits for growth. She also added that Start-ups and new-age technology will make a big difference to the economy.

The CNX Nifty ended at 17764.80, down by 133.85 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 17688.50 and 17945.60. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 1.13%, Power Grid up by 0.76%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 0.70%, HDFC Bank up by 0.56% and Divi's Lab up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.86%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.22%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.13%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.86% and HCL Tech. down by 2.80% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 13.89 points or 0.19% to 7,170.74 and Germany’s DAX was up by 32.76 points or 0.2% to 16,283.89. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 12.97 points or 0.18% to 7,278.23.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, tracking weakness in Wall Street overnight on persistent inflation woes with uncertainty over early interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Chinese shares declined after embattled China Evergrande Group is set to raise about $273 million by selling its remaining shares in film production and streaming company HengTen Network Group as the cash-strapped developer struggles to avoid a default on its debts. Seoul shares dropped as the country reported its biggest daily jump in corona-virus infections since the start of the pandemic. Moreover, Japanese shares retreated in spite of reports of bigger-than-expected economic stimulus package from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.