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Indian equity benchmarks ended lower for fourth session in a row on Wednesday, tracking losses in index majors Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ITC and TCS. After making cautious start, frontline indices slipped into red terrain, as traders got anxious as Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the second time in three months scaled down India’s growth estimate for the fiscal year ending March 2022 due to supply chain issue of industries. It has pegged India’s growth estimate at 9.7% for the current fiscal in its latest supplement. It had projected a growth rate of 10% in its September supplement. Some anxiety also came as Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) stated that the urban unemployment rate spiked to the double-digit rate for the first time in 17 weeks, to be 10.09% for the week-ended December 12, pushing the country’s overall jobless rate to a nine-week high of 8.53%. 

However, key indices have recouped some of its losses in late afternoon deals, taking support from the government data showing that India's merchandise exports jumped 27.16 per cent to $30.04 billion in November on the back of good performance by sectors like petroleum products, engineering goods and electronic items. Some support also came with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s statement that the Indian economy is rapidly recovering from the pandemic-induced downturn and is returning to its trajectory of rapid growth. He also said India's trade figures are promising and that the total foreign direct investment the country received in the current financial year stood at $81.72 billion (one billion is equal to Rs 100 crore), the highest ever. 

Though, markets failed to hold recovery and ended lower with losses of over half percent, as some concern remained among traders with data showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 763.18 crore on Tuesday. Besides, nervousness ahead of the US Fed outcome and increasing warning calls by the World Health Organisation (WHO) against the Omicron coronavirus variant, which is now spreading faster than the Delta variant, also kept investors on the sidelines.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, as the National Bureau of Statistics said industrial output in China was up 3.8 percent year-on-year in November, exceeding expectations for an increase of 3.6 percent and up from 3.5 percent in October. However, investors waited to hear from the U.S. Federal Reserve on when it would stop buying assets and start raising interest rates, give the economic threat posed by the new coronavirus variant. Back home, on the sectoral front, NBFCs stocks were in focus as the RBI introduced a prompt corrective action (PCA) framework for large non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), putting restrictions on para-banks whenever vital financial metrics dip below the prescribed threshold.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 329.06 points or 0.57% to 57,788.03 and the CNX Nifty was down by 103.50 points or 0.60% to 17,221.40.       

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 58,218.25 and 57,671.61, respectively and there were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.  

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.59%, while Small cap index was down by 0.35%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.50% and Capital Goods up by 0.09%, while Realty down by 1.78%, TECK down by 1.10%, IT down by 1.03%, Metal down by 1.02% and Utilities down by 1.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.59%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.06%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.01% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.10%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.55%, ITC down by 1.88%, TCS down by 1.47% and Titan Company down by 1.33% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has called upon fellow Ministers of neighbouring countries to work together to transform the subcontinent and said India is becoming the global hub for innovation with the third-largest startup ecosystem. Further, he called for enhancing India's economic ties with the nations of the Southern African Customs Union which consists of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho.

He said India is looking for Free trade Agreements (FTAs) with like-minded nations with transparency and mutual benefit and growth as key pillars. He mentioned that India is also reviewing existing Free trade Agreements (FTA) with ASEAN, Japan, Korea to strengthen them and forging enhanced trade alliances with countries like UAE, EU, UK, Israel, Australia, Canada, Russia, Oman and the GCC.

Besides, he said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, India has emerged as a source of resilience and a trusted Partner and added that India had tried to the best of its ability to meet all its international service commitments. He also assured that India would continue helping nations in need as India intrinsically believed in brotherhood, partnership and the need to work together to solve problems collectively. He added that India had focussed on its neighbourhood during the pandemic and stood ready to support all its friends with vaccines and medical supplies.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,351.20 and 17,192.20 and there was 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.77%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.45%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.91%, Tata Consumer Products up by 0.87% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.93%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.53%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 2.41%, ITC down by 2.03% and Power Grid Corporation down by 1.93% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 47.67 points or 0.69% to 6,942.98 and Germany’s DAX increased 56.14 points or 0.36% to 15,509.70, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 25.27 points or 0.35% to 7,193.37.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday even as global investors remained cautious about the potential impact of new Omicron variant and ahead of the key Fed decision. The US Fed is struggling with the highest levels of inflation and the central bank is widely expected to announce an acceleration of the tapering of its bond-buying program, which was put in place during the pandemic to prop up the US economy. Chinese shares declined amid a deepening property market slump, while signs of slowing Chinese growth and Sino-US tensions also kept market sentiment cautious. New data ranging from new home prices to investment and retail sales suggested slowing growth in the world's second-top economy. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday that China's retail sales growth slowed in November and missed expectations. Investment in manufacturing and real estate development grew for the first 11 months of the year from a year ago, but at a slower pace than the January to October period, the data showed. New home prices in China fell for the third month in a row in November, the biggest monthly decline since February 2015 as the downturn in Chinese property sector worsened under Beijing's clampdown.

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