Sensex, Nifty extend losses, concede 60K, 18K marks; banking, realty drag

Yes Bank, Idea, and Zomato are among top active stocks. Yes Bank saw a upgrade in ratings from Moody's, Zomato came out with earnings numbers on Wednesday and Vodafone Idea recently said that it was planning to sort out the Cairn issue over the next few weeks.

Markets have opened in the red on Thursday. Sensex opened about 200 points down, while Nifty was down about 50 points at opening. The benchmark indices were about 0.3% down. 

Nifty is expected to open negative at 17,960 down by 50 points. Since the last few trading sessions Nifty has been trading around its 20 period moving average on daily charts but has not been able to close above it. It is important for Nifty to close above 18,100 with higher than average volumes to continue its bull run. Traders are suggested not to initiate new long positions till then.

Sensex was at 60,292.05, down 60.77, or 0.10%, at 09:08 am on Thursday. Nifty was at 18,017.20, down 27.05, or 0.15% in pre-opening trade. Nifty, Maruti and Tata Steel were top gainers on Sensex, M&M, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank were in red. Tata Steel will be announcing September quarter results today.

Mickey Mouse is poised to venture into the metaverse. Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the entertainment conglomerate is preparing to make the technological leap into a virtual reality world first imagined by science fiction writers. (Read here)

Sony Group Corp. has reduced its PlayStation 5 production outlook for this fiscal year due to component and logistics constraints, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. The company has cut down the number of PS5 units assembled for the fiscal year to about 15 million, from its previous target of 16 million units, the report added, citing people familiar with its operations. The development comes amid a global shortage of semiconductors which is impacting companies including Sony. Sony did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. In October, the conglomerate?spanning areas such as entertainment, sensors and financial services?said it was on track to sell 14.8 million PS5 consoles this financial year, a target that takes into account the global shortages. Gaming firms' earnings were hit last year by stay-at-home demand during the depths of the covid-19 pandemic. Since then, sliding PlayStation user numbers have stabilized, Sony's finance chief Hiroki Totoki said, as the company approaches the year-end shopping season.

Bank of Baroda?s (BoB) September-quarter performance didn?t have many reasons to cheer. Sure, net profit showed 24% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth, and bad loan stockpile reduced too. The management has given an upbeat outlook over growth and asset quality for the rest of the financial year. (Read here)Bank of Baroda?s (BoB) September-quarter performance didn?t have many reasons to cheer. Sure, net profit showed 24% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth, and bad loan stockpile reduced too. The management has given an upbeat outlook over growth and asset quality for the rest of the financial year. (Read here)

Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) released data on Wednesday. It has shown that the Average Assets Under Management (AUM) and the Net AUM for the Indian Mutual Fund industry have risen to a record high levels at ?38.21 trillion and ?37.33 trillion respectively as 31 October. The Fund of Funds, Index Funds, and ETFs, too, reported positive flows. Collectively, they reported positive flows to the tune of ?10,758.85 crore as of 31 October.  Equity mutual funds saw net inflows of ?5,214 crore in October, compared with ?8,677 crore in the previous month. Hybrid funds garnered massive inflows of ?10,437 crore compared to ?3,587 crore earlier.  Systematic investment plans (SIPs) have continued to rise in popularity. The SIP book continues to post healthy progress and was at ?10,518 crore for the month, compared with ?10,351 crore in September 2021. The number of SIP accounts also went up to 4.64 crore from 4.48 crore in the same period. Balanced advantage funds saw the largest inflows of ?11,219 crore. 

Indian stock markets may remain under pressure on Thursday while trends in SGX Nifty suggest a weak opening of Indian benchmark indices. On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 60,352.82, down 80.63 points or 0.13% and the Nifty was at 18,017.20, down 27.05 points or 0.15%. (Read here)

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) provisions are ?fully applicable? to state-run electricity distribution companies, and the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) can be initiated against them, the power ministry said, potentially allowing creditors to turn the screws on indebted discoms.

Cash-strapped distribution firms across states currently owe around ?1 trillion to power generation companies, according to data on the power ministry?s PRAAPTI portal. Non-payment of coal dues by gencos on account of payment delays by discoms also have a knock-on effect, limiting supplies, depleting fuel stocks at power plants and prompting concern over power shortage. (Read here)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is keeping a close watch on core and fuel inflation, which have remained elevated even as food prices moderate, governor Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, Das expects inflation to be in line with the monetary policy committee?s (MPC) projection of 5.3% in FY22. Inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) eased to 4.35% in September from 5.3% in August. (Read here)

Shares of Rivian Automotive jumped in their debut on Wednesday, rising as much as 53% as investors look for the next big winner in the electric vehicle market. The closing price of $100,73 gave Rivian a market value of about $85.9 billion, greater than that of Ford and just below General Motors. That?s noteworthy because Rivian has so far delivered about 150 of its electric pickup trucks to customers, mostly employees, whereas Ford and GM sell millions of cars globally each year. Rivian is the latest in what?s becoming a long line of companies trying to peel away some of Tesla?s dominant market share in electric vehicles.

Oil prices were steady on Thursday after falling in the previous session on concerns rising inflation in the United States, spurred by climbing energy costs, may prompt the government to release more strategic crude stockpiles to drive down prices. On Wednesday, Brent crude futures fell by 2.5% and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures dropped by 3.3% after reports that US inflation increased at the fastest rate in 30 years pushed the dollar higher and crude inventories in the US, the world's biggest oil consumer, rose after the government released some strategic reserves. Brent crude futures gained 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $82.82 a barrel at 0156 GMT, while WTI futures rose 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $81.51.

Inflation fears pressured Asian stocks and buoyed the dollar on Thursday after data overnight showed US consumer prices surged at the fastest pace since 1990 last month, boosting the case for faster Federal Reserve policy tightening. Nominal US Treasury yields shot higher, with that on the benchmark 10-year note leaping by the most since February, while real yields, which take inflation into account, dipped to record lows. Gold jumped to a five-month high and bitcoin hit a record as investors sought inflation hedges. Oil pulled back sharply from near seven-year highs after US President Joe Biden said his administration was looking for ways to reduce energy costs. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.85%, led by a 1.19% slide in Australia's benchmark. Chinese blue chips slipped 0.09%. Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend by rising 0.24%, supported by the yen's weakness against a resurgent dollar and as U.S. stock futures ticked up slightly. Overnight though, the S&P 500 tumbled 0.82%, its worst day in more than a month. That marked the first back-to-back declines in a month, after the index closed at a record peak to start the week. The dollar index, which gauges the currency against six major peers including the yen and euro, hovered just below the high reached on Wednesday of 94.905, a level not seen since July of last year. The greenback added 0.13% to 114.04 yen, up from as low as 112.73 at the start of the week. The US consumer price index surged 6.2% on an annual basis, with gasoline leading a broad-based increase that added to signs that inflation could stay uncomfortably high well into 2022 amid snarled global supply chains. Inflationary pressures are also brewing in the labor market, with other data on Wednesday showing the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to a 20-month low.

Stocks

S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 10:53 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%

Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.4%

Japan?s Topix index rose 0.4%

Australia?s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 1%

South Korea?s Kospi index fell 0.6%

Hang Seng Index dropped 0.1%

Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6%

Zomato, Yes Bank and Oil India are among stocks to watch (Read here)