Equity benchmarks nosedived on Friday, with the Sensex crashing 866.65 points to close below the 55,000-mark amid a sell-off in global markets. Unabated foreign fund outflows and firm crude oil prices also weighed on sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex dived 866.65 points or 1.56 per cent to finish at 54,835.58.
Equity benchmarks ended higher on Friday helped by buying in index major Reliance Industries along with fresh foreign fund inflows. Extending its previous day's rally, the 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 203.01 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 59,959.85. During the day, it jumped 376.33 points or 0.62 per cent to 60,133.17.
Indices across Indian equity markets have edged towards new record highs before undergoing a small correction in the past few sessions. The National Stock Exchange Nifty has gained 20 per cent in the past year; mid-caps (up 33 per cent), small-caps (up 31 per cent), and micro-caps (up 44 per cent) have done better. Several factors have precipitated this rally.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman captivated her audience at the Women Directors Conclave.
The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering complaint against ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and former NSE top bosses Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain in connection with the illegal phone tapping and snooping case of employees of the stock exchange, officials said Thursday. The federal probe agency filed the case under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a week after the CBI booked them.
The issue price for Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2021-22, which will open for subscription for five days from November 29, has been fixed at Rs 4,791 per gram of gold, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. The Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2021-22 - Series VIII will be open for subscription from November 29 - December 03, 2021. "The nominal value of the bond...works out to Rs 4,791 per gram of gold," the RBI said.
Sony India and Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) have agreed to sell three Hindi channels--Big Magic, Zee Action and Zee Classic--to address anti-competition concerns arising out of their proposed merger. The broadcasters submitted their proposal to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which gave a conditional approval on October 4. On Wednesday, the CCI made public its detailed 58-page order, specifying the channels that would be dropped.
'Markets are not expensive; they are fairly priced.'
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's children -- Isha, Akash and Anant -- on Monday were appointed on the board of his energy-to-technology conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, in what is seen as a clear path of succession planning at India's most valuable company.
At a time when investors are preferring higher-risk investment products like thematic and small-cap mutual fund (MF) schemes, some fund houses are exploring the possibility of going further down the market-capitalisation (m-cap) ladder to unearth newer investment opportunities. HDFC MF had filed papers with the capital markets regulator - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) - earlier this year for an active micro-cap scheme. Some more fund houses are keen on launching such schemes, say industry observers.
Retail investors now own a bigger slice of small-cap companies than a couple of years earlier, attributable to their growing conviction in mutual fund (MF) schemes focused on this space. Data from Capitaline shows MFs' average holding in the National Stock Exchange Nifty Smallcap 250 rising to 8.67 per cent, from 7.67 per cent in the past two financial years, with the number of companies with over 20 per cent MF holdings, rising from 15 to 24. At the end of May, the top five small-cap firms with the highest MF holdings were Carborundum Universal, Blue Star, Cyient, Gujarat State Petronet, and Cholamandalam Finance.
Gold burnished its image as the go-to asset class during turbulent times. However, investors seemed to have missed the bus. Net inflows into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) plunged to a four-year low of Rs 653 crore in 2022-23 (FY23), even as gold emerged as the top-performing asset class.
The Sensex came under fag-end selling pressure to close in the red for the sixth straight session on Friday as risk-off sentiment prevailed amid unabated selling by foreign institutional investors and concerns over inflation. The 30-share BSE benchmark pared all intra-day gains and declined 136.69 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 52,793.62. During the day, it had rallied 855.4 points or 1.61 per cent to 53,785.71. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 25.85 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 15,782.15.
Among Sensex stocks, Tata Motors rose the most by 2.79 per cent. NTPC, Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS, HDFC twins, Tata Motors, ITC, Power Grid and Bajaj Finserv were among the major gainers. Tata Steel fell the most by 1.22 per cent. L&T, Sun Pharmaceuticals, IndusInd Bank and Ultratech Cement were among the losers.
Currently, trades on the Indian stock exchanges are settled within two days, just like most major markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Indian exchanges, however, will be moving to T+1 settlement from February 25 in a phased manner.
Two equity funds at the opposite ends of the risk matrix - small-cap and arbitrage - bucked the 'low inflow' trend in May this calendar year 2023 (CY23) to receive the highest net inflows in recent years. The Rs 3,280-crore net inflows into small-cap schemes in May was the highest for the category since the mutual fund (MF) industry started releasing fund-wise inflow data in April 2019. Arbitrage schemes raked in a net Rs 6,640 crore - the highest since July 2021.
Equity benchmarks ended lower on Tuesday, putting a break to their seven-day rally, amid weak Asian market cues and mixed trends from European stocks. The 30-share BSE benchmark failed to hold on the early gains and declined 287.70 points or 0.48 per cent to finish at 59,543.96. During the day, it hit a low of 59,489.02 and a high of 60,081.24.
The country's largest bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) has put the NSE Prime initiative in cold storage following lukewarm response from India Inc, said people aware of the development. Inspired by Brazil's Novo Mercado, NSE had announced a separate platform which any listed company could be part of by voluntarily adopting a stricter corporate governance code. Launched in December 2021, NSE Prime was to formally take off within a year after empanelling companies.
The ownership by domestic investors, individual as well as institutional, in companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has breached the 25 per cent mark for the first time. The share stood at 25.72 per cent at the end of the March 2023 quarter, up from 24.44 per cent in the previous quarter, according to data from Prime Database. The share of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), meanwhile, rose slightly to 20.56 per cent from 20.24 per cent as on December 31, 2022.
Equity benchmark Sensex declined over 215 points on Wednesday, weighed by losses in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv and Tata Steel, after the Reserve Bank raised the key interest rate by 35 basis points. Subdued Asian markets and continued selling by foreign investors also weighed on sentiment, traders said. Extending its losses for the fourth straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 215.68 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 62,410.68.
The gap between the highs and the lows in April for the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was just 4.1 per cent - the narrowest since July 2021 and nearly half its three-year average. The absence of major positive triggers, sectoral rotation, and cautiousness due to earnings and economic uncertainty have kept a tight leash on the markets, observe experts. Remarkably enough, during the 17 trading sessions in April, the Sensex didn't even log an advance or a decline of more than 1 per cent.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for a third day in a row on Wednesday on buying in Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC twins and ICICI Bank following gains in global equities amid hopes of a breakthrough in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The 30-share BSE barometer index surged 740.34 points or 1.28 per cent to settle at 58,683.99. During the day, it jumped 784.13 points or 1.35 per cent to 58,727.78. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 172.95 points or 1 per cent to settle at 17,498.25. Among the 30-share pack, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Nestle, Maruti, Reliance Industries Limited were among the lead gainers. On the other hand, ITC, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Titan were among the laggards.
Against the backdrop of a nearly four-hour outage at the National Stock Exchange last month, an RBI article on Friday suggested allowing trading of benchmarks Nifty and Sensex on all stock exchanges. Trading was halted at the NSE for nearly four hours on February 24, reportedly due to telecom links failure leading to unavailability of the online risk management system of the NSE Clearing Ltd (NCL). NCL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NSE, is responsible for clearing and settlement of all trades executed on the exchange, according to the article.
Benchmark indices finished on a weak note on Thursday, extending their previous day's decline amid a negative trend in global equity markets after the US Fed hiked interest rates by 75 basis points. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 69.68 points or 0.11 per cent to settle at 60,836.41. During the day, it tanked 420.95 points or 0.69 per cent to 60,485.14.
Lawyers say compensation may be an uphill task for investors because of a lack of judicial precedent and broader institutional difficulties.
Back home, the Nifty IT index - a gauge of the performance of the IT stocks on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that has closely mirrored the performance of NASDAQ over the past few years - has lost nearly 2 per cent in CY23.
Benchmark indices ended nearly 1 per cent lower on Wednesday, tracking a weak trend in global markets and continuous foreign fund outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 509.24 points or 0.89 per cent to settle at 56,598.28. During the day, it tanked 621.85 points or 1.08 per cent to 56,485.67. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty declined 148.80 points or 0.87 per cent to end at 16,858.60.
From the 30-share pack, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India, Wipro, Nestle India, TCS, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank were among the major laggards. NSE Nifty declined 69.75 points to settle at 17,153.
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed with losses in highly volatile trade on Thursday as banking and financial stocks retreated amid a weak trend in global equity markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 89.14 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 57,595.68. During the day, it touched a low of 57,138.51 and a high of 57,827.99. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 22.90 points or 0.13 per cent to settle at 17,222.75.
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded from early lows to close over 1 per cent higher on Tuesday, helped by heavy buying in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Infosys and TCS amid gains in global equities. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed up by 696.81 points or 1.22 per cent at 57,989.30. It touched a high of 58,052.87 and a low of 56,930.30 in intra-day trade.
Actively managed mutual fund (MF) schemes had been at the receiving end over the past few years for their inability to beat their benchmarks. However, the slump in shares of Adani Group companies - two of which are part of the benchmark National Stock Exchange Nifty50 index - have helped them improve their performance vis--vis exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or index funds.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the bail plea by former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with the co-location case. Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain issued notice on the bail application and listed the case for further hearing on May 31. The trial court had dismissed the bail plea of the former NSE boss on May 12 and said that no ground for bail was made out at this stage.
Catamaran, the family office of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, is targeting 15 per cent returns on its portfolio investments per annum as it shifts focus from early-stage investments to growth and late-stage bets. This would double the firm's assets under management (AUM) from the current $1 billion to $2 billion over the next five years. "For direct investments, we are focusing on growth-stage investments and very selectively on early stage," Deepak Padaki, president, Catamaran, told Business Standard. "(This is) primarily because the early-stage space in India, in the last three-four years, has completely changed. "There has been a huge influx of capital in the last two years. It has become a very crowded space for early-stage investment," he said.
It was alleged in an audit that Subramanian was the Yogi, but Sebi dismissed that claim in its final report on February 11.
Murty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, held 3.89 crore shares, or 0.93 per cent, of Infosys at the end of September, according to company filings with the stock exchanges.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has introduced an optional T+1 settlement cycle for the markets. T+1 means that settlements will have to be cleared within one day of the actual transactions taking place. The regulator has put the onus on the stock exchanges to decide whether they want to opt for the shorter settlement cycle for any of the listed scrips. This can be done after giving a one-month prior notice to all stakeholders.
Shares of Infosys hit a five-month low of Rs 1,419.60, down 1 per cent on the BSE in Tuesday's intra-day trade. The stock was quoting at its lowest level since October 10, 2022. In past two days, the stock of information technology (IT) bellwether was down 4 per cent after the company on Saturday informed to the stock exchanges that Mohit Joshi, president of the company has resigned effective March 11, 2023. Mohit Joshi will be on leave thereafter and his last date for the company would be June 9, 2023, Infosys said in an exchange filing.
Investors became poorer by over Rs 4.47 lakh crore on Friday as markets faced severe drubbing, mirroring weak trends in global equities. The 30-share BSE benchmark dived 866.65 points or 1.56 per cent to settle at 54,835.58. During the day, it tumbled 1,115.48 points or 2 per cent to 54,586.75.
Benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 160 points on Thursday in choppy trade following gains in select banking and auto counters amid mixed global cues. The 30-share index gained 160 points to settle at 62,570.68 as 13 of its components advanced while 17 declined. The barometer opened lower but later gained momentum to touch a high of 62,633.56 in the day's trade.
The domestic benchmark indices - the S&P BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 - had lost close to 1.5 per cent in three days recently before gaining slightly. Notwithstanding weakness and volatility, the Nifty50 has managed to hold on to the 18,000 mark, while the Sensex has managed to stay above the 61,000 level. The performance of the stocks that comprise these front-line indices remains polarised.