Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks witnessed bloodbath on last trading day of week amid sharp decline in IT sectors’ stocks following the US Federal Reserve’s downward revision of its 2025 interest rate cut forecast. Nifty and Sensex settled below the psychological 23,600 and 78,100 levels respectively. In last leg of trade, markets touched their low levels as traders avoided to take risk. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index ended with cut of over two percent. 

Markets made slightly positive start and soon turned volatile tracking mixed cues from global markets amid concerns that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's fiscal, trade and tariff policies could prompt the Federal Reserve to end its rate-cutting cycle. Further, markets traded near just below near neutral lines amid Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) outflow. Foreign Institutional Investors were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 4,224.92 crore, according to exchange data. In afternoon session, markets extended their losses, as traders were cautious after 10-year Treasury yield in U.S. climbed to 4.57% one day after Fed signaled slower rate cutting cycle. There were some anxiety among traders, as the central government has proposed a new bill to curb unregulated lending and provide for imprisonment of up to 10 years for violators, besides monetary penalties. With a view to curb unregulated lending activities and protect the interest of consumers, the RBI's Working Group on Digital Lending submitted its report in November 2021. In late afternoon session, indices reached near their low levels. 

On the global front, European markets were trading lower as focus shifts to U.S. personal income and spending data for November due later in the day, which includes the Fed's preferred readings on consumer price inflation. Asian markets ended mostly in red as concerns persisted about the Federal Reserve's rate trajectory and the U.S. faced a government shutdown after President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan. Back home, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 55th meeting of the GST Council in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer due on tomorrow. The most significant agenda for the GST Council is the proposed rate cut on term health and life insurance.

The BSE Sensex ended at 78,041.59, down by 1176.46 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 77,874.59 and 79,587.15. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined by 2.43%, while Small cap index was down by 2.11%. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 4.07%, Power down by 3.55%, Capital Goods down by 3.02%, Industrials down by 2.67% and Utilities was down by 2.60%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)

The few gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 0.52%, Nestle up by 0.25% and Titan Company up by 0.07%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.60%, Indusind Bank down by 3.53%, Axis Bank down by 3.28% and Tata Motors was down by 2.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, central government has released Rs 47,225 crore to the states and union territories under the Smart Cities Mission till November 15 and out of which Rs 44,626 crore has been utilised. Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said the work orders have been issued till November 15 in 8,066 crore amounting to Rs 1,64,669 crore, of which 7,352 projects (i.e. 91 per cent of total projects) amounting to Rs 1,47,366 crore have been completed under the mission.

Sahu said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) has a multi-level review structure to expedite the progress of projects under the Smart Cities Mission, and added that mission implementation at the state level is monitored by the state level high powered steering committee chaired by the chief secretary. At the national level, the implementation is monitored by an apex committee headed by the HUA secretary. The period of Smart Cities Mission, launched in June 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been extended up to March 31 next year. 

Under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), the Central government has a total outlay of Rs 48,000 crore for the 100 cities. As on 15.11.2024, the Central government has released Rs 47,225 crore to States/Union Territories under SCM, out of which Rs 44,626 crore (i.e. 94 per cent of the total Central share released) has been utilised since its inception. On November 28, the ministry said that 13 out of 100 smart cities have completed all their projects, while 48 cities have achieved over 90 per cent completion.

The CNX Nifty ended at 23,587.50, down by 364.20 points or 1.52% after trading in a range of 23,537.35 and 24,065.80. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The few gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.36%, Nestle up by 0.14%, ICICI Bank up by 0.12% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.04%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.89%, Trent down by 3.67%, Indusind Bank down by 3.62%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.59% and Axis Bank down by 3.34% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 42.83 points or 0.53% to 8,062.49, France’s CAC fell 80.65 points or 1.12% to 7,213.72 and Germany’s DAX was down by 223.75 points or 1.13% to 19,746.11.

Asian markets settled mostly down on Friday ahead the US Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the Fed's preferred inflation measure due later in the day, which is expected to play a crucial role in shaping Fed's interest rate path under the incoming Trump administration. Meanwhile, investors were also cautious over a potential US government shutdown. Chinese shares fell after China’s central bank kept its loan prime rates unchanged. The People's Bank of China kept its one-year loan prime rate steady at 3.1% and its five-year loan prime rate at 3.6%. Japanese shares declined after data showed the annual inflation rate in Japan climbed to 2.9% in November 2024 from 2.3% in the prior month, marking the highest reading since October 2023. Moreover, South Korean shares tumbled after the US Federal Reserve signalled a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts.