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19
December 2018
I had mentioned in Tuesday’s closing report
that Nifty, Sensex were on an uptrend. The major indices of the Indian stock
markets were range-bound on Wednesday and closed with gains over Tuesday’s
close. On the NSE, there were 1,136 advances, 562 declines and 362 unchanged.
The trends of the major indices in the course of Wednesday’s trading are given
in the table below:
Amid
mixed Asian cues and falling crude oil prices, the benchmark Sensex extended
its early gains on Wednesday. Apart from the export-oriented IT (information
technology) and pharma stocks all other sectors gained on both NSE and BSE.
The
domestic currency continued to gain against the US dollar on Wednesday after
registering a Rs1.11 rise -- the strongest single day gain in five years. Rupee
was trading at Rs70.16 against the US dollar from its previous close of 70.44
after the benchmark Brent Crude slipped to $56.68 a barrel.
Indian
bonds, equity and the currency have outperformed other major markets by a big
margin, pointed out market analysts.
Investors
are, however, still cautious about the ongoing Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) meeting later in the day. The committee is widely expected to raise
interest rates, which has kept the sentiments tepid, analysts said.
Tokyo
stocks opened lower on Wednesday, as concerns over a US government shutdown, a
slump in oil prices and concerns that the US Federal Reserve may go too far
with its rate-hiking policy led to investor consternation.
A
skills-based immigration system will be introduced in the UK to "get
control over our borders" when free movement from the EU ends, Home
Secretary Sajid Javid is set to announce.
The
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has made an open offer to acquire 26% stake in
the public sector lender IDBI Bank for Rs61.73 a share. Currently, the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) norms mandate an open offer if a
company acquires up to 25% stake in a listed entity. IDBI Bank shares closed at
Rs62.05, up 0.40% on the NSE.
Private
sector IDFC Bank announced that the lender's merging of non-banking finance
company (NBFC) Capital First with it has become effective on Tuesday following
the lodging of the relevant NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) order with the
Registrar of Companies. An IDFC stock exchange filing also said following the
regulator's approval, the bank board has appointed V. Vaidyanathan as the MD
and CEO of the bank with effect from December 19, 2018, in place of Rajiv B.
Lall. The board also approved the appointment of Rajiv B. Lall as the part-time
non-executive Chairman of IDFC Bank with effect from December 19, 2018, subject
to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval. The National Company Law
Tribunal has already approved the amalgamation of Capital First, Capital First
Home Finance and Capital First Securities with IDFC Bank. "The approval of
the RBI has been received for change of name of the Bank from IDFC Bank Ltd to
IDFC First Bank Ltd," the filing said. "However, the new name
will be effective after receipt of approvals from the shareholders of IDFC Bank
and the Central government." The merged entity will have an
authorised share capital of Rs5,363 crore, the filing added. IDFC Bank shares
closed at Rs42.80, up 3.88% on the NSE.
Private
lender Yes Bank said it has sold 2.13% share stake of Fortis Healthcare.
According to a BSE filing, the bank said it sold the stake in various tranches.
Fortis Healthcare shares closed at Rs137.10, up 0.55% on the BSE.
The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on review of the evolving liquidity
conditions, it has decided to scale up the amounts to be purchased in the
remaining two OMO (Open Market Operation) auctions scheduled in December 2018
to Rs15,000 crore each. "Consequently, the total injection of durable
liquidity for the month of December 2018 would amount to Rs500 billion
(Rs50,000 crore)," the Central bank said in a statement.
The
decision comes amid concerns of a liquidity crisis in the economy after the
default by IL&FS Group companies and government's calls for more liquidity
infusion. Additionally, the RBI said it will inject Rs50,000 crore into
the market by purchasing government securities in January 2019. "Further,
based on an assessment of the durable liquidity needs going forward, the RBI
has decided to conduct purchase of government securities under OMOs for an
aggregate amount of Rs500 billion in the month of January 2019," the
statement said. "The operations will be conducted through five
auctions of Rs100 billion each."
US
stocks closed higher as investors awaited the central bank's latest decision on
interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 82.66 points, or
0.35%, to 23,675.64 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 rose 0.22 point, or 0.01%, to
2,546.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 30.18 points, or 0.45%, to
6,783.91. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hike its benchmark
overnight lending rate for the fourth time this year when it concludes a
two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. Rising interest rates can be a hurdle to
smaller companies that carry a high proportion of debt, so any sign that the
Fed plans to continue to raise rates each quarter could weigh on corporate
sentiment. In the meantime, investors continue to digest soft economic data.
Construction of single-family homes fell to a one and a half year low, pointing
to deepening housing market weakness that could spill over to the broader
economy. New York manufacturers reported on Monday that business activity is
growing at a slower pace in recent months. The Empire State Manufacturing
Survey's headline general business conditions index, aggregated by the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, fell 12.4 points to 10.9 in December, weaker than
analysts' expectations of around 20.6.
The
National Stock Exchange (NSE) said it has received security market regulator
SEBI's approval to start weekly options contracts on the Nifty50 index. The
weekly options will have seven consecutive weekly expiry contracts, excluding
the week where monthly contracts expire, the NSE said in a statement. "All
contracts shall expire at the normal market closing time on the expiry day or
such other time as decided by the exchange," it said. The new serial
weekly options contract shall be introduced after the expiry of the respective
week's contract, it added.
The top
gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:
The
closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:
 |
Major Indices (The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions)
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