Benchmarks end with deep cuts; Nifty settles below 18,050; VIX jumps over 5%

The key equity indices ended a volatile session with heavy losses on Wednesday. The Nifty closed below the 18,050 mark after hitting day's high of 18,243 in early trade. Investors were cautious as the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release the minutes of the December policy meeting tonight. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the red with metal, realty and PSU bank shares declining the most.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 636.75 points or 1.04% to 60,657.45. The Nifty 50 index lost 189.60 points or 1.04% to 18,042.95.

 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.97% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.79%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,231 shares rose and 2,262 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, advanced 5.64% to 15.1975.

Economy:

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 58.5 in December from 56.4 in November, highlighting the strongest rate of expansion since mid-2022. Companies commonly linked the upturn to robust intakes of new work and favourable market conditions.

Meanwhile, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index rose from 56.7 in November to 59.4 in December, highlighting the quickest rate of growth since January 2012. Indian private sector firms signalled a strong performance at the end of 2022, with manufacturers and service providers recording faster expansions in output.

New Listing:

Shares of Radiant Cash Management Services settled at Rs 106.40 on the BSE, representing a premium of 13.19% compared with the issue price of Rs 94. The scrip was listed at a price of Rs 99.30, at a premium of 5.64% as compared to the issue price.

So far, the stock has hit a high of 116.70 and a low of 98. On the BSE, over 34.32 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter so far.

The initial public offer (IPO) of Radiant Cash Management Services (Radiant CMS) was subscribed 0.53 times. The issue opened for bidding on 23 December 2022 and it closed on 27 December 2022. The price band of the IPO was fixed at Rs 94-99 per share.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries slipped 1.56%. Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), the FMCG arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) on Tuesday (3 January 2023) announced that it will acquire 50% equity stake in Gujarat-headquartered Sosyo Hajoori Beverages (SHBPL).

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) declined 1.52%. HDFC said that during the quarter ended 31 December 2022, the corporation has assigned loans amounting to Rs 8,892 crore as compared to Rs 7,468 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, up 19% YoY.

HDFC Bank fell 1.69%. The private lender's advances aggregated to approximately Rs 15,07,000 crore as of 31 December 2022, recording a growth of around 19.5% as against Rs 12,60,900 crore as of 31 December 2021. HDFC Bank registered a growth of around 1.8% in quarter ended 31 December 2022 from Rs 14,79,900 crore as of 30 September 2022.

Avenue Supermarts (DMart) shed 3.11%. DMart on Tuesday announced that the total number of stores as of 31 December 2022 stood at 306. DMart has reported a standalone revenue of Rs 11,304.58 crore in quarter ended 31 December 2022, up 24.71% from Rs 9,065.02 crore reported in the same period a year ago.

Vedanta skid 3.47%. The company said that the total aluminium production declined by 2% to 5,66,000 tonnes in Q3 FY23 from 5,79,000 tonnes in Q3 FY22. The finished steel production in Q3 FY23 was 3,06,000 tonnes, lower by 13% YoY and 6% QoQ due to maintenance activities in blast furnace in Q3 FY23.

LTIMindtree declined 1.82%. The IT company on Tuesday announced that Venugopal Lambu, whole-time director and Markets President, has resigned. Venugopal Lambu has resigned from the position of whole-time director & President, Markets II, to pursue opportunities outside the company. His resignation has been accepted and his last working day will be 10 January 2023, informed LTIMindtree in the filing.

NTPC declined 0.21%. India's largest power generator commissioned India's first green hydrogen blending project. The green hydrogen blending has been started in the piped natural gas (PNG) network of NTPC Kawas township, Surat. The project is a joint effort of NTPC and Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL).

IndusInd Bank fell 1.51%. The private lender's net advances improved to Rs 2,71,966 crore as of 31 December 2022, registering a growth of 19% as compared to Rs 2,28,583 crore as of 31 December 2021. On quarter on quarter (QoQ) basis, net advances grew by 5% as against Rs 2,60,129 crore posted on 30 September 2022.

Angel One advanced 1.06% after the brokerage company said its client base jumped 60.7% to 12.51 million in December 2022 as against 7.78 million recorded in December 2021.

Global markets:

Markets in Europe advanced across the board while those in Asia ended mostly higher on Wednesday as investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes for December.

Global markets will be looking for insight into the central bank's thought process when it comes to interest rates and the state of health of the U.S. economy.

In addition, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, better known as JOLTS, and ISM manufacturing data will be released stateside.

Yesterday, Germany published lower-than-expected inflation figures for December, down to 9.6% year on year. Inflation figures from France are due on Wednesday.

Wall Street's main indices closed lower on the first trading day of 2023 with the biggest drags from Tesla and Apple, while investors worried about the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hiking path as they awaited minutes from its December meeting.

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