Post Session: Quick Review

Tuesday turned out to be a volatile session for Indian equity markets, with both Sensex and Nifty ending marginally lower. The start of the day was firm, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Overnight fall in crude oil prices also aided domestic sentiments. Oil prices dropped sharply on Monday following reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to terms for a ceasefire to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Some support came as foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in Indian markets on Monday, provisional exchange data showed, snapping a record selling streak that had partly caused the country's benchmark indices to confirm corrections earlier this month. FIIs were net buyers of stocks worth Rs 9,948 crore ($1.18 billion), after 38 consecutive sessions of being net sellers during which outflows totalled to about $16.5 billion. 

But soon, indices cut their gains and remained lackluster throughout the day, as some cautiousness came after the finance ministry in a report said India's economic outlook for the coming months is cautiously optimistic, with agriculture likely to benefit from favourable monsoon conditions, increased minimum support prices and adequate supply of inputs. Also, it said India’s export recovery may face challenges due to softening demand in developed markets. Traders remained cautious after a private report said that India's economy likely grew at its slowest pace in one-and-a-half years in the three months to end-September as weak consumption offset a strong recovery in government spending, which for years has helped drive growth. However, in the last hours of the trade, markets witnessed recovery to end near neutral lines. 

On the global front, European markets were trading lower, after UK shop prices dropped at a slower pace in November, signalling that shoppers are set to face rising price pressures. The British Retail Consortium revealed that the shop price index declined 0.6 percent on a yearly basis in November, slower than October's 0.8 percent decrease. Asian markets settled mostly down on Tuesday, as Singapore's industrial production growth moderated markedly in October. The preliminary data from the Economic Development Board revealed that industrial production expanded 1.2 percent year-on-year in October, much slower than the 9.0 percent surge in September. 

Back home, tourism industry related stocks remained in focus as the government said the contribution of tourism sector to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022-23 stood at five per cent. In a written response in the Lok Sabha, Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also said that in 2023, the total foreign tourist arrivals stood at 9.52 million. Telecommunication companies’ stocks were also in focus following reports that the Union Cabinet has approved a waiver of bank guarantees (BGs) for telecom companies, marking a significant step toward easing the financial burden on the sector. The waiver applies to spectrum acquired by telecom operators in auctions held before 2022.

The BSE Sensex ended at 80004.06, down by 105.79 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 79798.67 and 80482.36. There were 13 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.11%, TECK up by 0.89%, Telecom up by 0.80%, Metal up by 0.58% and FMCG up by 0.57%, while Utilities down by 1.77%, Power down by 1.55%, Auto down by 1.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.93% and Energy down by 0.59% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.79%, Infosys up by 1.73%, JSW Steel up by 1.11%, TCS up by 0.85% and Reliance Industries up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 3.07%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.00%, Sun Pharma down by 2.48%, NTPC down by 1.90% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.87% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in its commitment to fostering a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in India, the Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of its flagship initiative, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), under the aegis of NITI Aayog, with an enhanced scope of work and an allocated budget of Rs 2,750 crore for the period till March 31, 2028. AIM 2.0 is a step towards Viksit Bharat that aims to expand, strengthen, and deepen India’s already vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

With India at rank 39 on the Global Innovation Index and home to world's third-largest start-up ecosystem, the next phase of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM 2.0) is expected to further enhance India’s global competitiveness. The continuation of AIM will directly contribute to creating better jobs, innovative products, and high-impact services across sectors.

While building on the accomplishments of AIM 1.0, such as Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and Atal Incubation Centers (AIC), AIM 2.0 marks a qualitative shift in the mission’s approach. Whereas AIM 1.0 involved implementing programs that built new innovation infrastructure to strengthen India’s then nascent ecosystem, AIM 2.0 involves piloting new initiatives designed to fill gaps in the ecosystem and scaling successes through central and state governments, industry, academia and community. 

AIM 2.0 is designed to strengthen India’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in three ways: (a) by increasing input (i.e., ushering more innovators and entrepreneurs), (b) by improving the success rate or ‘throughput’ (i.e., helping more startups succeed) and (c) by improving the quality of ‘output’ (i.e., producing better jobs, products and services).

The CNX Nifty ended at 24194.50, down by 27.40 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 24125.40 and 24343.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Shriram Finance up by 3.34%, Britannia up by 2.24%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.90%, Asian Paints up by 1.84% and Infosys up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 4.74%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.25%, Bajaj Auto down by 3.01%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.94% and Sun Pharma down by 2.07% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 28.52 points or 0.35% to 8,263.16, France’s CAC fell 46.76 points or 0.65% to 7,210.71 and Germany’s DAX lost 107.72 points or 0.56% to 19,297.48.