December series to start on a tepid note; GDP may witness 10 per cent contraction, to be eyed by market participants
Indian markets ended the final trading session of the November series on a buoyant note. November series turned out to be a really bumper one for the market participants as Nifty gained 11.31 per cent and Bank Nifty surged 22.68 per cent.
NBFCs and Metal stocks were the top gainers in November series. The FIIs have pumped in huge sums into the Indian stock markets and the figure stands at Rs 57,604 in the month of November so far, which has helped the Indian markets to be amongst the best performing equity markets worldwide.
The beginning of the December series is likely to be a tepid one as SGX Nifty is trading with meager gains of 9 points at 13,054 levels. We would advise traders to focus on stock-specific action as we could see some profit-booking emerging in the index in the second half of today’s trading session due to a long weekend ahead as on Monday, Indian markets would remain closed. Furthermore, the much-awaited GDP data would be released today post markets.
After a historic contraction in the July-ended quarter, the mean projection indicates that the GDP could witness a contraction of close to 10 per cent with Bank of America predicting a contraction of 7.8 per cent and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) predicting a decline of 12.7 per cent. We believe that just as the corporate sector’s performance during the quarter surprised many, it is quite possible that the GDP data would also have some surprises in store, following which, we might see a revision in the outlook. If you recall, many foreign brokerage houses revised their targets on the headline indices after this encouraging corporate performance.
The new norms of verifying upfront margin collection would come into effect from December 1. Asian Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), which represents many foreign investors, have appealed to SEBI to defer the implementation of the peak margin norms by at least three months as alternative solutions need to be chalked out by all the market participants to implement circular, which would require a considerable time.
Asian markets lacked clear direction on the final trading session of the week on the back of lack of any major trigger from Wall Street as it was closed for a holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 0.39 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.08 per cent. Besides, China’s Shanghai Composite was up by 0.26 per cent.
Indian markets made a smart come back on Thursday and posted gains of nearly 1 per cent. Nifty closed within striking distance of the 13,000 mark and Sensex settled above the 44,250 mark. Buying was witnessed across the board and as a result, all the sectoral indices ended in the green. Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Financial Services emerged as the top gainers. The broader markets too moved in-line with frontline indices with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap adding 0.86 per cent each.
US stock markets were closed on Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving Day. In absence of any major triggers, the European indices ended the day with modest losses. FTSE was down by 0.44 per cent, CAC and DAX dipped 0.08 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.