Key benchmark indices snapped four-day rising streak on Monday. The trading sentiment took a hit as the ruling BJP appeared to be set for second place in a tight contest for Jharkhand Assembly election. The Nifty 50 index slipped below 12,250 level.
The barometer index, the BSE Sensex, fell 38.88 points or 0.09% to 41,642.66, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index lost 5.65 points or 0.05% to 12,266.15, as per the provisional closing data.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.07%.
The market breadth was positive. On BSE, 1121 shares advanced while 1394 shares declined. A total of 206 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 28 stocks advanced and 22 stocks declined.
Politics:
Jharkhand Assembly election results will be declared today. BJP government went solo this time. The opposition alliance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seems to be having an edge in the 81-member Assembly.
While the BJP is ahead on 24 seats, JMM is leading in 29 seats. Congress is ahead on 14 seats and RJD is leading in 3 seats. The majority mark for winning the election is 41 seats.
Legislative Assembly elections were held in Jharkhand from 30 November to 20 December 2019 to elect the 81 members of Legislative Assembly.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty PSU index fell 1.31% to 2,537.15 on profit booking after a stellar rally in the previous session. The index surged 2.28% to end at 2570.90 on Friday.
UCO Bank (down 2.42%), Indian Bank (down 2.33%), United Bank of India (down 1.92%), Union Bank of India (down 1.77%), Canara Bank (down 1.72%), Punjab National Bank (down 1.7%), Syndicate Bank (down 1.68%), Central Bank of India (down 1.63%), State Bank of India (down 1.6%), Corporation Bank (down 1.38%), Punjab & Sind Bank (down 1.04%), Bank of Baroda (down 0.99%), Andhra Bank (down 0.57%) and Bank of India (down 0.57%) declined.
The rally in PSU bank stocks was induced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducting a special open market operationsimultaneously buying long-tenor bonds and selling short-tenor government bondsdubbed 'Operation Twist' by the market.
The simultaneous sale and purchase operation has a two-pronged objective: Lowering the steep term premium at the longer end of the yield curve despite the RBI's accommodative monetary policy, and surplus systemic liquidity and correcting yields at the shorter end.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Shares of Titan Company, UltraTech Cement and Nestle India were in the limelight ahead of their entry in the BSE Sensex post market hours today, 23 December 2019.
As a part of rejig, Titan Company (up 0.95%), UltraTech Cement (down 0.84%), Nestle India (down 1.71%) will be added to BSE Sensex whereas Tata Motors (up 0.03%), Tata Motors DVR (up 1.31%), Vedanta (up 2.46%), Yes Bank (down 3.21%) will be deleted from the BSE Sensex. Any change in index weights can result in portfolio churns for major funds. The BSE will also rejig 14 other indices. However, there will be no change in the S&P BSE Bankex.
KEC International rose 1.74% to Rs 303.75. The company said it has secured new orders of Rs 1,520 crore across its various businesses.
Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 1.78% to Rs 1571 on reports that the government has sought to block RIL selling a 20% stake in its oil and chemical business to Saudi Aramco. According to the report, the Delhi High Court on Friday (20 December) asked RIL and British Gas to disclose their assets after the Centre sought to restrain them from disposing of the same. In an application filed in September, the government had sought curbs citing the failure of the two companies to honour their payment under a $4.5 billion international arbitral award in the Panna-Mukta and Tapti production sharing contracts.
In August, RIL announced its plans to sell 20% stake in its refining and petrochemicals business for $15 billion to Saudi Aramco. The deal, which values the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business at $75 billion, is part of a plan to make RIL a zero-debt company in the next 18 months.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) fell 0.16% to Rs 185.80. The firm said it acquired Meerut-Simbhavali Transmission as a special purpose vehicle to establish transmission system in Uttar Pradesh.
Emami rose 1.23% to Rs 304.80 after media house reported that UltraTech Cement has emerged as the front-runner to buy the cement business of Emami Group in an all-cash deal worth Rs 6,500-7,000 crore.
BASF India surged 5.48% to Rs 1009.20 after the company's German parent signed a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Lone Star, a global private equity player, for acquisition of BASF's construction chemicals business. The purchase price on a cash and debt free basis is 3.17 billion euros. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approvals.
Ramco Systems jumped 4.66% to Rs 148.25. Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (HAECO Group), announced it will continue to work with Ramco Systems to bring the global software specialist's advanced Aviation solutions to four more business units in Hong Kong, Xiamen and Jinjiang, the company said in a filing to the exchanges.
HAECO's partnership with Ramco began last year when HAECO ITM, a HAECO Group company which provides inventory technical management solutions, adopted Ramco's Aviation Suite.
Foreign Markets:
Markets in Europe traded mostly lower while Asian markets ended mostly higher amid greater optimism for U.S.-China relations.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he had a very good talk with China's leader Xi Jinping about the so-called phase one trade deal they struck in mid-December. That indicated more progress has been made after they reached the initial agreement.
The president said in a tweet that China has started large scale purchases of U.S. agricultural products, and a formal deal signing is being arranged. On Saturday, he said both countries would very shortly sign the deal.
In other positive trade developments, China on Monday said it will lower import tariffs on over 850 products from Jan.1, including frozen pork, as well as some information technology products starting July 1.
In US, stock indexes set records highs on Friday, after encouraging US economic data and optimism about international trade deals.
On economic front, the Commerce Department's third estimate of third-quarter GDP, published on Friday, left growth unchanged 2.1%, with strong consumer spending offset by weaker business investment in inventories.
In other US economic data, Americans increased spending in November at the fastest rate in four months.
Wall Street sentiment also remains supported by progress on international trade policy, after the US House passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) bill to replace North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Thursday and the US and China agreed on a partial deal last Friday.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
