Sensex tanks 879 pts; Nifty settles below 18,450; VIX jumps over 6%

The key equity indices ended with major losses amid negative global cues on Thursday. Investor sentiments were dented after the US Fed hiked rates by 50 basis points to its highest level in 15 years. The Nifty closed below the 18,450 mark. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in red.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 878.88 points or 1.40% to 61,799.03. The Nifty 50 index lost 245.40 points or 1.32% to 18,414.90.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.05% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.61%.

 

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,404 shares rose and 2,152 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 6.57% to 13.7325.

IPO Update:

The initial public offer (IPO) of Abans Holdings received bids for 1,39,07,245 shares as against 1,28,00,000 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 15:30 IST on Thursday (15 December 2022). The issue was subscribed 1.09 times.

The issue opened for bidding on Monday (12 December 2022) and it will close on Thursday (15 December 2022). The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 256-270 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 55 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

The initial public offer (IPO) of Landmark Cars received bids for 2,44,24,235 shares as against 80,41,805 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 15:30 IST on Thursday (15 December 2022). The issue was subscribed 3.04 times.

The issue opened for bidding on Tuesday (13 December 2022) and it will close on Thursday (15 December 2022). The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 481-506 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 29 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) dropped 6.43% after the offer for sale (OFS) opened for non-retail investors today, 15 December 2022. Through the OFS, the Government of India proposes to sell up to 2 crore equity shares (representing 2.5% stake), with an option to sell an additional 2.5% stake or 2 crore equity shares in case of oversubscription. The floor price for the sale has been set at Rs 680, a 7.45% discount to the stock's closing price of Rs 734.70 on Wednesday.

State Bank of India fell 1.69%. The central board of the bank accorded approval for raising capital by way of issuance of Basel III compliant debt instrument in INR and / or any other convertible currency, upto FY24 by raising fresh additional tier-1 (AT-1) capital up to an amount of Rs. 10,000 crore.

Bharti Airtel skid 0.53% and Tech Mahindra slipped 3.77%. The telecom major on Thursday announced a strategic partnership with Tech Mahindra to deploy 5G captive private network at Mahindra's Chakan manufacturing facility. Mahindra's Chakan facility has become India's first 5G enabled auto manufacturing unit, said the company.

NTPC rose 0.09%. The state-run power major said that it declared commercial operation of second part capacity of 67.73 megawatt (MW) out of 230 MW Ettayapuram Solar PV project at Tamil Nadu.

Poonawalla Fincorp slipped 4.53%. The company said that its board has approved the sale of its housing subsidiary Poonawalla Housing Finance to TPG (Perseus SG, an entity affiliated with TPG Global, LLC) at a valuation of Rs 3,900 crore, subject to regulatory approvals.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shed 0.67%. The company said that its hydrocarbon business L&T Energy Hydrocarbon (LTEH) has secured two 'significant' orders for its asset management and AdVENT business verticals. As per L&T's classification, the value of the said contract lies between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore.

JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals added 3.14% and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals declined 0.91%. JB Pharma said that it has entered into an agreement with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals to acquire the cardiac brand, Razel (Rousvastatin) franchise for the India and Nepal region for a cash consideration of Rs 313.7 crore. The pharma company said that the acquisition will be funded through long term debt and internal accruals (primarily debt). The transaction is expected to be closed by the end of this calendar year, subject to customary closing formalities.

Global markets:

The Dow Jones index futures were down 278 points, indicating a negative opening in the US stocks today.

Markets in Europe and Asia slumped across the board on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to the highest level in 15 years.

China's annual Central Economic Work Conference will reportedly be held behind doors for two days until Friday.

China's industrial production for November grew 2.2%, after seeing a growth of 5% in October, according to official data. Retail sales fell 5.9% on an annualized basis, further than a fall of 0.5% the previous month.

US stocks snapped a 2-day winning streak following the decision after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled more data was needed before the central bank would meaningfully change its view on inflation.

It will take substantially more evidence to have confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path, Powell said during his post-meeting news conference. However, Powell said inflation remains a problem. Price pressures remain evident across a broad range of goods and services, Powell added.

The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signalling more hikes to come. The Fed boosted its benchmark rate a half-point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years. The policymakers also forecast that their key short-term rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023.

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