India’s Sensex, Nifty50 slip into the red after a positive opening – FMCG, autos weigh, PSU banks rise

• The volatility in the Indian markets are a reflection of the mixed signals from global markets.
  
• FMCG and auto sectors dragged the index down, while PSU banks rose.
  
• On Thursday, the Sensex closed 230 points lower at 61,750 while the Nifty50 closed 65 points lower at 18,343.
  
• The weekly gains of Sensex have come down to just 0.32%, in the last five days.
  

Indian benchmark indices slipped into the red on Friday after a positive opening, dragged down by the FMCG and auto sectors. However, PSU banks offered resistance and were trading higher.

The volatility in the Indian markets were a reflection of the mixed signals from global markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 1.51%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.17% while China’s Shanghai SE Composite index was down 0.15%.

The US markets ended Thursday in the red, weighed by hawkish comments from the US Fed officials and data that showed the labour markets remained tight. The S&P 500 ended 0.31% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered a marginal 0.02% decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.35%.

At 10 a.m., the Sensex was hovering around 61,600, down 148 points, while the Nifty50 was around 18,300, lower by 43 points from yesterday’s close.

Earlier, the Sensex and the Nifty50 had opened 0.2% higher. On Thursday, the indices had ended in the red – the Sensex closed 230 points lower at 61,750 while the Nifty50 lost 65 points to end at 18,343.

The SGX Nifty, which is an early indicator of the Nifty50’s performance, was up 0.27% ahead of the India markets opening.

Analysts expected markets to open flat to marginally higher on Friday. “Indian markets could open flat to mildly higher, in line with mixed and range bound Asian markets today and despite lower US markets on Thursday,” Deepak Jasani, head of retail research, HDFC Securities.

With some losses made on Thursday, the weekly gains of Sensex have come down to just 0.32% in the last five days.

Banks were amongst the top gainers in the first hour of trade on Friday.


Source: NSE, as at 10 a.m., November 18, 2022

With earnings season at an end, Indian markets to track global cues

With no strong domestic triggers at hand in the near term, Indian bourses are likely to take their cues from the global markets and remain range bound, analysts said.

“Markets have bounced back smartly and wiped out the entire year-to-date decline in 2022. Nifty is now up 5.7% year-to-date. Nifty has lost its momentum in the past few days after witnessing a sharp rise of more than 7% in the last one month. It is consolidating above the 18,000 mark and marginally below its all-time high of 18,604. With the result season now over, we expect the market to track global developments in the near term,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head-retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Cooling crude oil prices would be a positive boost, analysts said. Brent crude is now at $90.45 per barrel, down from $95 at the beginning of this week.

“The recent market structure is pointing towards the possibility of some profit taking or consolidation ahead,” said Ajit Mishra, VP - technical research, Religare Broking. The broking firm expects Nifty to hold the 17,800-18,100 levels, he added.

“There are no major global or domestic triggers that can move the markets decisively as of now. Therefore, the market is likely to meander around the current levels. Also, there is no trigger to push the market decisively into sharp correction territory,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Stocks to watch on Friday

One 97 Communications: Paytm shares tanked 10.8% on Thursday as SoftBank offloaded 29.5 million shares worth ₹1,631 crore. However, Bank of America Securities, Morgan Stanley and Societe Generale picked up 18 million shares in total.

LIC: The state-run insurer pared its stakes in Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid Corporation, Sun Pharma, and Bajaj Auto, among others, in the September quarter.

FSN E-commerce: The Nykaa operator witnessed action as investor Mala Gopal Gaonkar offloaded 57.5 million shares and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board picked up 17 million shares.

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