Indian markets close marginally lower

Thu, 16 Jan Closing

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   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

After opening the day on a positive note, Indian equity markets plunged in the afternoon trading session and consolidated towards the end of the day, closing marginally lower. The fall was led primarily by the volatility in the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap stocks were seen down and the respective indices stood lower by 0.13% and 0.28% respectively. The BSE-Sensex closed lower by 24 points and the NSE-Nifty was seen down by 2 points.

On the global front, the Asian indices closed the day on a mixed note and the European indices too have opened the day on a mixed note. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.55 to the dollar at the time of writing.

As per leading financial news daily, the global ratings agency, Moody has affirmed no ratings downgrade for India. The ratings agency has given India an investment grade rating of Baa3 with a stable outlook. This has come as a major relief to the government. This is followed by the World Bank report which projected India's growth to rise to over 6% in FY15 and 7.1% in FY17. Moody's expects gradual economic recovery in the July-December backed by softening in inflation and interest rates. The report further states that the confidence and demand would be low in 2014 on account of complicated taxes and regulations, weak infrastructure and a weak government. Even GDP is expected to remain below potential in the near term. Hence, the rating agency has cautioned that low growth and high inflation could weaken the country's debt profile and raise financing costs.

Stocks from the Private banking space closed today on a mixed note with Development Credit Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank leading the pack of gainers and Karnataka Bank and HDFC Bank leading the pack of losers.

As per leading financial news daily, Axis bank, the country's third largest private sector lender, has announced its third quarter FY14 earnings today. The company has reported 19% YoY growth in profitability at Rs 16 bn primarily on account of lower provisions. The net interest income or NII has climbed 19.6% YoY to Rs 30 bn for the December quarter 2013. The earnings growth was driven by retail banking business followed by treasury and corporate banking. The Net interest margin (NIMs) declined marginally to 3.71% versus 3.79% on sequential basis. The asset quality, however, worsened during the December quarter with gross NPAs rising 15 bps YoY to 1.3% and net NPAs climbed 9 bps YoY to 0.4%. The Capital adequacy ratio (as per Basel III norms) stood at 15.5% in the third quarter as against 15.9% in second quarter of FY14.

By the way, we have now started accepting registrations for The Equitymaster Conference 2014. With Mr Ajit Dayal being the keynote speaker and the theme being 'Beyond Uncertainty' we are looking forward to an engaging session on 1st February 2014.