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8
December 2017
I had
mentioned in last week’s closing report that Nifty, Sensex might remain weak.
The major indices of the Indian stock markets were volatile over the week and
closed with gains on Friday over last Friday’s close. The trends of the major
indices in the course of the week are given in the table below:
 |
Weekly Indices (The Total
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Buying
in IT (information technology), metals and healthcare stocks pushed the key
Indian equity indices higher on Monday. According to market observers, a surge
in stocks of IT major Infosys, along with other index heavyweights like Tata
Motors, Bharti Airtel, HDFC and Hindustan Unilever added to the upward
trajectory of the key indices. On the NSE, there were 562 advances, 946
declines and 53 unchanged.
Indian
shares opened higher on Monday tracking the gains in Infosys, which surged 3%
after the company over the weekend said it has appointed Capgemini's Salil
Parekh as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer effectively from 8
January 2018. However, benchmark indices gave up some of their early gains as
Reliance Industries, Larsen and Toubro and Sun Pharma came under selling
pressure within minutes of opening trade, pointed out market analysts.
Broadly
negative global cues, along with selling pressure in auto, consumer durables
and capital goods stocks pulled the key Indian equity indices lower on Tuesday.
Market observers said investors traded with caution ahead of the outcome of the
Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) two-day policy review meet on Wednesday. On the
NSE, there were 580 advances, 944 declines and 43 unchanged.
To
push sales during the year-end period, automobile major Tata Motors said that
it has launched a 'Mega Offer Max Celebration' sales offer. According to the
company, the offer provides opportunity to customers "to drive home a Tata
car at a down payment of INR 1 and enjoy savings of upto 1 lakh, depending on
the model and variant". "Tata Motors has tied up with leading
financiers and banks to offer up to 100% funding through attractive finance
schemes on the passenger vehicles," the company said in a statement.
International
ratings agency Fitch lowered the country's GDP growth projection for 2017-18 to
6.7%. According to Fitch's December Global Economic Outlook (GEO), the global
ratings agency reduced the growth forecast for the fiscal year to end-March
2018 (FY18) to 6.7% from 6.9%. "The Indian economy picked up in 3Q17, with
GDP growing by 6.3% yoy (year-on-year), up from 5.7% in 2Q17. However, the
rebound was weaker than we expected, and we have reduced our growth forecast
for the fiscal year to end-March 2018 (FY18) to 6.7% from 6.9% in the September
GEO," the ratings agency said in its report.
On
Wednesday, the key indices were dragged lower by interest-rate sensitive stocks
like banking, metals and capital goods. In its penultimate monetary policy
review of the fiscal, RBI on Wednesday maintained status quo on key lending
rates while citing concerns over rising inflation. It also retained economic
growth projection for the 2017-18 fiscal. RBI’s move came even as Indian
industry expressed disappointment while the government said a neutral policy
stance reflected recognition of the fact that inflation remained "firmly
under control". The central bank said its repurchase rate, or the
short-term lending rate for commercial banks, had been maintained at 6%.
Consequently, the reverse repo rate remained at 5.75%. RBI also raised the
inflation forecast for the remainder of the current fiscal to 4.3%-4.7%. It
said "two of the key factors determining the cost of living conditions and
inflation expectations -- food and fuel inflation -- edged up in
November". "Accordingly, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee)
decided to keep the policy repo rate on hold," the fifth bi-monthly
monetary policy statement said. "The decision of the MPC is consistent
with a neutral stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of
achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of
4%... while supporting growth," it added.
Overcoming
the previous session's losses, the key Indian equity indices on Thursday surged
to trade with appreciable gains as positive cues from the Asian markets and
value buying in auto, consumer durables and capital goods stocks lifted
investors' risk-taking appetite. According to market observers, buying in index
heavyweights like Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj-Auto, Tata Steel, and Larsen and Toubro
lifted the benchmark indices. On the NSE, there were 1,219 advances, 474
declines and 296 unchanged.
Extending
gains for the second consecutive session, key Indian equity indices on Friday
traded on a higher note as positive cues from the Asian markets and value
buying in metals, auto and banking stocks gave a boost to investors'
sentiments. Top gainers on the BSE market breadth were Tata Steel, Maruti
Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma. All sectoral indices are in
the green, led by consumer durables, bank, metal and auto. On the NSE, there
were 1,017 advances, 677 declines and 298 unchanged. On Friday, the major
indices closed with gains of around 1% over Thursday’s close.
The
Jet Airways Group reported a net profit of Rs71 crore for the second quarter
(Q2) of 2017-18, backed by growth in capacity, revenues as well as accompanying
reduction in non-fuel costs. According to the Jet Airways Group, its net debt
reduced by Rs194 crore during the same quarter.
In
a massive relief to Indian exporters, the government announced liberal
incentives of Rs8,450 crore ($1.3 billion) in its mid-term review of the
five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) that was rolled out in 2015 and aimed at
increasing the export of goods and services to $900 billion by 2020. Exports,
meanwhile, declined from $468 billion to $437 billion between 2014-15 and
2016-17.The Total Investment & Insurance
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