Sensex Today: Share market ends in red, Sensex closes 76 points lower, Nifty at 11,968

Last Close

On Wednesday, benchmark indices erased gains from record high levels today and closed 0.45% higher by the closing bell. Sensex closed 181 points higher at 40,651 level and Nifty50 ended the day's trade at 11,999, rising 59 points against its previous close. Sun Pharma, Zee Entertainment, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were among the top gainers by Wednesday's closing bell, while Bharti Infratel, Indian Oil Corporation, Eicher Motors, NTPC and State Bank of India were among the worst performers in today's trade. Read more  

SGX Nifty trades lower

 SGX Nifty, Nifty Futures, traded 12 points lower at 11,999 level, indicating a neagtive start for the domestic equity market on Thursday.  

FII, DII bullish

Net investment of equity and debt reported by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned positive with net buying logged at Rs 566 crore from Indian equities and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) logged net buying at Rs 183 crore on Wednesday.  

Cabinet approves sale of 5 PSUs

FM Sitharaman on Wednesday said that the Cabinet approved strategic disinvestment of BPCL, Shipping Corporation, Container Corporation, Tehri Hydro Development Corporation, North Eastern Electric Power.  

US-China trade deal hopes dampens

Fresh tensions between Washington and Beijing over US bills on Hong Kong could complicate their trade negotiation and delay the "phase one" deal, highly anticipated by investors. This was fuelled with White House suggesting completion of trade deal could slide into next year. Additionally, December 15 deadline that Trump has set for more extensive tariff rollbacks has made investors cautious.  

Global Market Update

 On Wall Street, concerns over the US-China trade deal progress kept investors on edge yesterday. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.41%, followed by the S&P 500 that lost 0.38%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.51%. Asian equities too followed the bearish trend from Wall Street to start lower for the day. While Shanghai Composite Index, KOSPI and Straits Times  dropped marginally, more losses were registered in Hang Seng and Taiwan Index, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.16% while Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.25%  

Pre-open Session on Thursday

After Pre-opening in the negative, Sensex and Nifty turned positive, backed by favorable cues at domestic front. Sensex rose 85 points higher at 40,747 and Nifty traded at 12,025, rising 26 points to previous close.  

Cabinet approves 2yr moratorium on spectrum payments

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a two-year moratorium on payment of pending spectrum auction installments for the years 2020-21 and 2021-22, a much-needed respite to stressed telecom companies.

The move to defer payments for 2020-21 and 2021-22 will give Rs 42,000 crore relief to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, sources told PTI. Read more

Opening bell on Thursday

Indian equity market has started marginally higher on Thursday, backed by strong domestic cues, contrary to global markets that traded on the negative amid fresh US-China trade deal tensions. Sensex rose 100 points higher at the opening bell at 40,737, while Nifty opened at 12,025.65.  

Market turns red

Sensex and Nifty turned red, few minutes past the opening bell, amid negative global markets. Sensex has fallen 18 points lower at 40,62 level and Nifty has declined 7 points to 11,991.

Rupee opens flat against the US Dollar

Rupee, the domestic currency, opened flat at 78.81 against the US dollar, amid fresh US-China trade deal tensions.

SEBI doubles PMS investment size to Rs 50 lakh

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) doubled the minimum investment limit for clients of portfolio management services (PMS) to Rs 50 lakh from the earlier decided Rs 25 lakh, in a move to restrict the entry of dubious operators in the business and curb mis-selling. The market regulator also increased the net worth requirement for PMS to Rs 5 crore from Rs 2 crore earlier. SEBI has given the existing portfolio managers 36 months to meet the enhanced requirement. Read more

Telecom shares decline

Shares of telecom service providers fell in the early trade on Thursday, with Vodafone shares trading almost 12% lower intraday, followed by Bharti Airtel stock price that fell 2.26% intraday. Reliance Industries stock too registered trend reversal and fell 0.83% lower today. On the contrary, Tata Teleservice(Maharashtra) (TTML) stock rose 9.3% higher, followed by Reliance Communications that rose 5% intraday and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) shares rising 4.89% intraday. Read more

Cabinet approves sale of 5 PSUs

In-principle approval has also been granted government's 63.75% equity stake in Shipping Corporation of India, 53.2% stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and 30.8% of Container Corporation of India. Cabinet has also given the in-principle approval for disinvestment of 74.23% stake sale of THDC and 100% of North Eastern Electric Power Coporation Limited (NEEPCO). Following the development, Shipping Corporation of India declined 4.39% intraday, BPCL shares declined 2.47%. On the contrary, share price Container Corporation rose 4.67% higher.  

Market Update

Share Market Today: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty turned bearish on Thursday's early trade, on back of weak global equities amid fresh US-China trade deal tensions. Sensex has fallen 18 points lower at 40,62 level and Nifty has declined 7 points to 11,991. Sensex has fallen 65 points lower to 40,583 and Nifty traded 31 points lower at 11,967 level. Sectorally, strength in IT, media, auto and PSU banking stocks supported the markets however weakness in realty, pharma, banking, FMCG, and metal shares limited the gains.

SEBI revamps rights issue process

Market regulator SEBI announced that it has revamped the rights issue process. The timeline to complete rights issue has been adjusted to T+31 days from the current T+55 days timeline. Additionally, net worth requirement of portfolio managers has been enhanced from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.  

BPCL, SCI declines, CONCOR rises

Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, Shipping Corporation of India declined in the early trade on Thursday after FM Sitharaman announced that the Cabinet has given the in-principle approval for disinvestment in selected blue-chip public sector companies. Following the development, Shipping Corporation of India rose to a new-52 week high of Rs 69.8, although lost gains to decline 4.39% intraday to Rs 64.8 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. BPCL shares too hit a fresh 52-high of Rs 549.7, but later reversed the trend to fall 2.47% intraday to Rs 527.35. Contrary to this, share price Container Corporation rose 4.67% higher with Thursday' opening bell to Rs 605. Read more

Gainers and losers

While Bharti Infratel, BPCL, Bharti Airtel and UPL were among the top losers today, shares of Zee, HCL Tech, L&T and Tech Mahindra were among the top gainers.

Zee Entertainment shares up 15%

Zee Entertainment Enterprises share price rose up to 15% to Rs 353.20 compared to the previous close of Rs 307.15 on BSE, after the media firm said that its promoter was considering selling their stake in the company. "The Essel Group is planning to sell 16.5 per cent stake in ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) to financial investors," the media company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The large cap stock has gained 16.89% in the last two days. Read more

Rupee declines 2 paise

On the currency front, the rupee depreciated 2 paise (intra-day) against the US dollar to trade at 71.83 in early session. Read more