Nifty looks to sustain momentum, Eternal block deal and latest on IndiGo turbulence | Market Minutes

Good morning and welcome to Market Minutes, I am Nazitha Kimkar. It's Monday the 8th of December, let's take a look at the cues that will shape trade today. The Sensex and Nifty ended the week largely flat while the midcap index slipped nearly 1%. The Nifty Bank Index performed in line with benchmarks also closing flat. IT stocks were the clear outperformers last week with the Nifty Index clocking its biggest weekly gain in 2 months. 5 out of the top 6 Nifty Gators were from the technology pack. The Pro-HCL tech enforces tech Mahindra and TCS. Among midcaps, emphasis, PB FinTech, Industars and Balcrician industries led the gainers while Indian Bank, Bundle Bank, Irida, Hood Co and Dixon Tech ended the week lower. On Friday, equities ended higher after the reserve bank of India cut the repo rate by 25 basis points. Despite the gains market breadth remained slightly weak. The Sensex rose over 440 points and the Nifty gained over 150 points. The midcap index added nearly 300 points to settle at 6595 while the Nifty Bank outperformed with the 489 point rise. Among stocks and news, Keynes Tech fell nearly 13% on inconsistencies in disclosures while Indigo closed off lows after the DGCA eased FDTL norms for pilots. In terms of fund flows for an institutional investor's soul shares worth over 400 crore rupees while domestic institutions were net buyers to the tune of 4200 crores as per provisional data. Going forward experts say the near-term trend remains firm, with the Nifty having room to move towards 26300 to 26440 levels. Support is seen around 2660 to 26000 levels and a buy-on-dip strategy is likely to remain favored as long as the index holds above that zone. The GIF-Nifty meanwhile signals a flat open for the market today. Let's now get you a check on the global markets. Asia-Pacific markets are trading mixed this morning amid a fresh batch of economic data from China. Japan's benchmark Nikkei slipped 0.14% while South Korea's cost pay was largely flat. Revised data released in Tokyo showed that Japan's economy contracted more sharply than initially estimated between July and September. Third quarter GDP fell at an annualized rate of 2.3%, worse than both the preliminary estimate of 1.8% and economy's forecast of a 2% decline, highlighting the toll of weak consumption and slowing exports. US futures are also trading mixed after Wall Street wrapped up back-to-back winning weeks. On Friday, all three major US indices closed higher, void by softer inflation data. The S&P 500 edged up 0.2% to notch its fourth straight day of gains, while the last DAC rose 0.3% and the Dow added 104 points of 0.2%. The S&P is now less than a percent away from its all-time high. Stocks received a boost after the delayed release of September's core PCE price index. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge came in softer than expected. Core PCE rose 0.3% for the month and 2.8% year-on-year matching estimates reinforcing hopes that inflation is cooling steadily. With the US Fed's final policy meeting of the year coming up this week, traders are growing more confident that the central bank could deliver a rate cut. Futures markets are now pricing in an 88% chance of a 25% basis point rate cut, up from about 67% just a month ago, according to the CME Fed Watch tool. Later today, the New York Fed will release its survey of consumer expectations, offering fresh insight into household inflation views and spending trends. Meanwhile, investors will also watch earnings from Oracle and Adobe this week for cues on the tech sector's outlook. In the bond market, the US 10-year yield inched up nearly three basis points to 4.13%. While the US dollar eased slightly but stayed within recent ranges, the dollar index ended near 98.9, hovering close to a 5-week low. In commodities, oil prices were steady as optimism over a US rate cut was offset by concerns about a global supply glut installed Ukraine peace talks. Analysts also cited potential tensions with Venezuela as a factor supporting prices. Meanwhile, gold prices climbed nearly 1% on Friday, supported by growing rate cut expectations, while silver rallied to a fresh record high. Now, let's shift focus to the key stocks that could be in action today. A block deal is expected in eternal, where an institutional investor plans to sell half a percent stake worth up to 1,500 crore-piece at a floor price of 289.5 rupees per share. Another major deal on Friday was in ITC hotels where bad subsidiary sold a 9% stake for 3,856 crore-piece at an average price of 205.65 per share. Among the buyers were HCL capital, which picked up a 7% stake for nearly 3,000 crores and Nippon India Mutual Fund, which acquired 1.2%. Bioquan will be in focus as it has received tentative US FDA approval for Parkinson's treatment drug. The company also announced plans to fully integrate Bioquan biologics as a wholly-owned subsidiary through a share swap, valuing the entity at $5.5 billion. Bioquan will also raise up to 4,500 crore-piece through a QIP. Coaching shipyard bagged an order from Switzerland and Mark to build advanced electric transfer stocks. Centaur technology secured a 194 crore-piece order in the civil nuclear power sector. Zentech received a 120 crore-piece order from the Defence Ministry to set up a combat training node in Mother Pradesh. Ashoka built corn, one of 1,500 crore-piece highway construction project from the BMC. On the IPO front, Wakefit launches its 1289 crore-piece IPO today, priced at 1.85 to 195 rupees per share, valuing the firm at nearly 6,400 crore-piece. The company has already raised 5.80 crore-piece from anchor investors, including the likes of state-view capital, White Oak, Info Edge and Demisek Capital Bagged 2B. Meanwhile, ICICF credential AMC has filed its RHP for a 10,600 crore-piece IPO that opens on December 12, priced at 2,061 to 2,165 rupees per share. Add in a voice of the day's segment, listen into Sonal Minhaar's founder of Pression Capital, as he shares his outlook for the markets after the RBI's read cut. We believe that the Indian stock markets are set for a rebound post today's Monetary Policy Committee meeting. We believe that the Indian markets can actually deliver mid-teen returns for calendar year 2026. We think while the repo rate reduction of 25 basis points was on the expected lines, what however was really encouraging is the higher GDP growth guidance given by RBI and the lower inflation forecast given by them. RBI has raised FY26 growth estimate from 6.8% earlier to 7.3% now and it has reduced the inflation guidance to around 2%. This implies that RBI will focus more on real growth now than we worried about inflation targets. We think that an 11-12% earnings growth of BSC-CENSEX is a reality now. Consumption-driven sectors should do well from here on, on the back of tax reforms, lower GST rates and now lower lending rates made available to consumers. Workers such as pains are already showing a sign of rebound in demand. On the other hand, rural consumption continues to stay strong on a back of a good crop season and also on the back of unwinding of bad credit cycle post-COVID. We are also seeing strong growth in auto-ansularies, power equipment and chemicals. The same is also corroborated by growth in credit for corporate wholesale and MSME loan. Before we wrap up here's a look at the latest on the Indigo crisis. The airline has refunded over 600 crore fees to passengers affected by cancellations and delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage so far. Indigo said it is operating 1650 flights out of its 2,300 daily domestic and international flights on Sunday and 650 remain cancelled for the day amid the airlines operations gradually stabilizing after massive disruptions in the last five days. The DGCA has issued a show cause notice to Indigo CEO Peter Elbers while the government has imposed fair caps to prevent price spikes amid the disruptions. That's all we have for your market minister today. Stay tuned to MoneyControl.com for all the latest news and updates through the day. Thanks for listening and have a great training day.