Stock markets logged modest losses; Sensex falls 191 points & Nifty trades at 17,004

After three days of gains, the Indian stock markets ended the volatile trading session with modest losses on Friday, December 24, 2021. The Sensex closed below 57,200 points while the Nifty settled near the 17,000 mark.

The BSE Sensex fell 190.97 points, or 0.33 per cent, to trade at 57,124.31. The NSE Nifty also slipped 68.85 points, or 0.40 per cent, to trade at 17,003.75. In the sectoral indices, the Nifty Bank declined 334.10 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 34,857.05.

The broader markets at BSE underperformed the Sensex with S&P BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap closing 1.15 per cent and 0.60 per cent lower, respectively.

Sellers outnumbered the buyers. On the BSE, 1,580 shares rose and 1,751 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at NSE, 11 shares advanced and 39 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies (up 2.86 per cent), Tech Mahindra (up 2.39 per cent), SBI Life (up 2 per cent), Asian Paints (up 0.52 per cent) and Wipro (up 0.45 per cent). The top five losers were Grasim (down 2.93 per cent), NTPC (down 2.53 per cent), Eicher Motors (down 1.81 per cent), ONGC (down 1.67 per cent) and Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.66 per cent).

Data Pattern IPO Listing: Data Patterns India made a stellar debut on the bourses today as the stock opened at a premium of 46.33 per cent at Rs 856.05 per share on the NSE in Friday's trading session, as compared to the IPO issue price of Rs 585 per share. At the close, it ended at Rs 750.50 per share, a premium of 28.29 per cent against the issue price. At the BSE, the stock was listed at Rs 864 per share, at a premium of 47.69 per cent against the issue price. At the close, it ended at Rs 754.85 per share, a premium of 29.03 per cent over the issue price.

Healthy financials with a sound orderbook and huge growth potential amid the Make in India opportunity boosted investors' sentiment. The initial public offering (IPO) of the vertically integrated defence and aerospace electronics solutions provider Data Patterns (India) Limited closed on Thursday with 119.62 times subscription. The Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) portion was subscribed record 190.86 times while the Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) portions were subscribed 254.22 times and 23.14 times, respectively. The company had fixed a price range of Rs 555-585 per equity share for an issue worth Rs 588 crore. The issue comprised a fresh issue of up to Rs 240 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) worth Rs 348 crore.

COVID-19 Update

India reported 6,650 new Covid-19 cases and 374 deaths in the last 24 hours. The country's active caseload currently is at 77,516. Meanwhile, India's Omicron tally jumped to 358 with 88 cases in Maharashtra and 67 in Delhi.

Economy

Financial bids have been received for strategic disinvestment of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited. Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said in a tweet that the process has now moved to the concluding stage.

Japan's November consumer inflation marked the biggest year-on-year rise in nearly two years on surging fuel costs. Japan's core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes oil costs, rose 0.5 per cent in November from a year earlier, government data showed.

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers warned of a testing period for the US economy in coming years, with the risk of recession followed by stagnation. In an interview, Mr Summers said the Federal Reserve had been late to spot the dangers of inflation and that delayed action to cool prices could potentially tip the economy into a slump. "If I thought we could sustainably run the economy in a red-hot way, that would be a wonderful thing, but the consequence -- and this is the excruciating lesson we learned in the 1970s -- of an overheating economy is not merely elevated inflation, but constantly rising inflation," Mr Summers said. "That's why my fear is that we are already reaching a point where it will be challenging to reduce inflation without giving rise to recession."