Goodwill Investor Education Initiative : GoodWill Eagle’s Eyes!
Markets are still going up unabated! RBI maintains rates.
WOW !–Sensex crosses 45000 – Nifty 13248…
The Indian markets open higher on Friday tracking a positive trend in global peers. Investors will keep an eye on the Reserve Bank of India’s bi-monthly monetary policy to be announced today. At 7:05 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 51.00 points or 0.39 percent higher at 13,254.00, indicating a positive start for the Sensex and Nifty50.
US: Stock futures were little changed in overnight trading on Thursday as investors awaited a key November jobs report to gauge the pace of labor market recovery in the face of a worsening pandemic. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 60 points. S&P 500 futures were little changed and Nasdaq 100 futures traded 0.2 percent higher, reported CNBC International.
Asia: Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday morning trade after a report said Pfizer expects to ship half the Covid-19 vaccine doses it originally planned for this year due to supply chain issues. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.23 percent in early trade while the Topix was slightly lower. South Korea’s Kospi, on the other hand, added 0.67 percent. Meanwhile, shares in Australia edged higher, as the S&P/ASX 200 gained about 0.2 percent . Australia’s retail sales data for October is set to be released around 8:30 a.m. HK/SIN. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.18 percent higher, reported CNBC International.
Closing Bell On Thursday: Indian benchmark indices closed flat on Thursday led by a decline in IT stocks and heavyweight HDFC Bank after the RBI advised the lender to temporarily halt launches of Digital 2.0 programme. However, auto, metal and some banking stocks capped the losses. At 3:30 pm, the Sensex closed 0.03 percent higher to 44,632.65 while the Nifty settled 0.15 percent higher to 13,133.90. Broader markets also ended flat like benchmarks, nearly 0.65 percent each. Among sectoral indices, Nifty PSU Bank was the best-performing index of the day, ending with gains of 4.84 percent. This was the biggest single-day gain for the index in the last three months. Nifty Private Bank, Nifty IT and Nifty Financials were the only sectors to have ended negatively in today’s session.
Crude Oil: LONDON — OPEC and non-OPEC allies, after days of tense discussions, agreed on Thursday to increase production by 500,000 barrels per day beginning in January. This will bring the total production cuts at the start of 2021 to 7.2 million bpd. Ahead of the meeting, OPEC and its partners, known collectively as OPEC+, were widely expected to extend the current production cut of 7.7 million bpd through at least March. International benchmark Brent crude futures traded 1.4 percent higher at $48.92 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures settled 36 cents, or 0.8 percent, higher at $45.64 per barrel, reported CNBC International.
Rupee: Indian rupee closed 12 paise lower at 73.93 against the greenback on Thursday, amid volatile trading in global equity markets. The Indian currency ended near day’s low against the US dollar. It opened flat at 73.81 per dollar against previous close of 73.80. The local unit touched a high of 93.68 and low of 93.95 in the intraday trade on Thursday. The dollar gained strength amid renewed hopes of economic stimulus from Washington and the expected start of Covid-19 vaccinations.
RBI Policy Decision Today: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank is expected to hold fire as persistent high inflation and a lower-than-expected contraction of the economy leave no headroom for a rate cut. A CNBC-TV18 poll conducted among 20 economists showed that none of the respondents expected a repo rate cut from RBI in the December policy. The repo rate, currently at a historic low of 4 percent, is expected to be left unchanged. Most economists CNBC-TV18 polled are not penciling in any cuts in this entire financial year, and expect rates to be cut only after March. Half the respondents expect up to 25 basis point reduction in repo rate over a 12 month period, and 45 percent expect a status quo, meaning no cut or hike over the next year. Rates remain same without any change in view of inflation.
Govt Relaxes Expenditure Caps: The Finance Ministry has relaxed the expenditure caps for a number of ministries and departments, a move which should add power to the economy’s wheels by way of extra government spending. The so-called ‘expenditure management guidelines‘ had restricted the budget spend for these ministries and departments to 15 percent, for the first 3 quarters till end of December. A 22 percent year-on-year drop in government expenditure has added to the woes of the economy, which has now shrunk for two consecutive quarters. “The cash management guidelines have been relaxed in general for most ministries, although there is considerable easing for Development, Infra, and welfare related ministries. Ministries can now spend 25 percent of the revised estimates every quarter without the Finance Ministry’s approval, “ a government official told CNBC-TV18
IMF On Indian Economy: India’s economy, severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, is gradually recovering, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday. India’s economy recovered faster than expected in the September quarter as a pick-up in manufacturing helped GDP clock a lower contraction of 7.5 per cent and held out hopes for further improvement on better consumer demand. “India has indeed been severely affected by the pandemic but is gradually recovering,” IMF chief spokesperson Gerry Rice told reporters. Fiscal, monetary, and financial sector measures announced to date provided much-needed support to the economy, including businesses, agriculture, and vulnerable households, Rice said in response to a question on the IMF’s assessment of India’s economy during the coronavirus pandemic.
Among brokerages, CLSA remains bullish on HDF Bank despite RBI’s advisory to stop the launch of its Digital 2.0 programme while Macquarie and Nomura are positive on UltraTech Cement on the back of its expansion plans.
