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Key indices end Thursday’s trade deep in red

Indian equity benchmarks ended a disappointed day of trade deep in red on Thursday amid expiry of the January series of the Futures and Options (F&O) contracts, and ahead of the Union Budget announcement next week. Markets made gap-down opening and stayed in red for whole day, as traders were concerned as India recorded 11,752 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The caseload tally stands at 10,702,031. Globally, more than 101.4 million people have been infected by the virus. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 14th among worst-hit nations by active cases. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,013,353), Karnataka (936,955), Kerala (899,932), Andhra Pradesh (887,238), and Tamil Nadu (835,803). Traders took note of report that PE/VC investments in 2020 were at par with the previous year in terms of value at $47.6 billion as compared to $47.3 billion in 2019. Reliance Group entities topped the chart in 2020 with about $17.3 billion, which accounts for 36 per cent of the PE/VC investments in 2020.

However, headline indices managed to trim some losses in late hour of session, taking support from report India's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) saw a significant jump in November 2020. FDI data released by the Commerce Ministry shows that total FDI in the month of November 2020 grew by a whopping 81 per cent to $10.15 billion against $5.6 billion in November 2019. FDI equity has also jumped to $8.5 billion as against $2.8 billion in November 2019, registering a growth of 70 per cent. Some support also came with Gita Gopinath, the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that India has entered 2021 with better prospects than what was expected last year and has been able to restore activity faster than many economies.

On the global front, Asian markets ended lower on Thursday, while European markets were trading lower, as investors reacted to a worsening Covid-19 health crisis and a downbeat economic outlook from the Federal Reserve. Amid rising virus cases and vaccine delays, Federal Reserve officials flagged a worrying slowdown in the pace of the economic recovery overnight. Back home, on the sectoral front, aviation industry stocks were in focus with report that the Ministry of Civil aviation has further extended the ban on all flights between Indian and UK till February 14. This was done to prevent the spread of the new strain of coronavirus going around in the UK.  Agriculture industry stocks were in watch with IMF's Chief Economist Gita Gopinath’s statement that India's recently-enacted agri laws have the potential to increase farmers' income, but there is a need to provide a social safety net to the vulnerable cultivators.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 535.57 points or 1.13% to 46,874.36, while the CNX Nifty was down by 149.95 points or 1.07% to 13,817.55.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 47,172.02 and 46,518.48, 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 0.46%, while Small cap index was down by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.77%, Telecom up by 0.35%, Bankex up by 0.29%, PSU up by 0.28% and Consumer Durables up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 2.07%, IT down by 1.93%, FMCG down by 1.79%, TECK down by 1.62% and Auto down by 0.94% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 6.16%, SBI up by 2.47%, ONGC up by 1.17%, ICICI Bank up by 1.12% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.65%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.56%, HDFC Bank down by 2.81%, Power Grid down by 2.60% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.25% were the top losers.    

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place a comprehensive framework for strengthening the grievance redress mechanism in banks. The framework comprises enhanced disclosures on complaints to be made by the banks; recovery of the cost of redress of maintainable complaints from the banks against whom the number of complaints received in the Offices of Banking Ombudsman (OBOs) are in excess of their peer group averages; and intensive review by RBI of the grievance redress mechanism.

The framework intends to, inter-alia, provide greater insight into the volume and nature of complaints received by the banks as also the quality and turnaround time of redressal, promote satisfactory customer outcomes and improved customer confidence, and identify remedial steps to be taken by the banks having persisting issues in grievance redress mechanism. 

As per the framework, the redress of complaints will continue to be cost-free for the customers of banks and members of public. RBI will undertake, as a part of its supervisory mechanism, annual assessments of customer service and grievance redress in banks based on the data and information available through the Complaint Management System, and other sources and interactions. The central bank has taken various initiatives over the years for improving customer service and grievance redress mechanism in banks.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 13,898.25 and 13,713.25 and there were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 5.54%, SBI up by 2.63%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.59%, BPCL up by 1.55% and GAIL India up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.65%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.44%, Wipro down by 3.01%, HDFC Bank down by 2.67% and Power Grid down by 2.52% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 61.00 points or 0.93% to 6,506.37, France’s CAC decreased 12.30 points or 0.23% to 5,447.32 and Germany’s DAX decreased 119.00 points or 0.87% to 13,501.46.

Asian markets ended lower on Thursday, tracking an overnight selloff in Wall Street after the Federal Open Market Committee's January monetary policy decision. Federal Reserve leaves its benchmark interest rates and asset purchases unchanged, amid fresh signs the US economic recovery from the corona virus pandemic is slowing. Further, fears about the impact of new corona virus strains, vaccine delays and uncertainties about a $1.9 trillion US stimulus package also weighing on market sentiments. Chinese shares ended down amid nagging worries over policy tightening. Further, Japanese shares settled lower as technology stocks succumbed to heavy selling pressure after recent rally.

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