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Sensex Ends Day in Red; SBI Up 3.7%
Wed, 23 May Closing

After opening the day in green, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day and ended the day on a negative note. Sectoral indices traded on a mixed note, with stocks in the metal sector and stocks in the oil and gas sector, leading the losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 306 points (down 0.9%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 106 points (down 1%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 0.5%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 68.38 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 78.96 at the time of writing.

Asian stock markets too finished in red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 1.1%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 1.2%. Meanwhile, European markets, were trading on a negative note. The FTSE 100 was down by 0.7%, The DAX, was down by 1.2% while the CAC 40 was down by 1.1%

In news from stocks in the aviation sector. According to a leading financial daily, the government will shortlist qualified bidders for Air India by 15 June and set a reserve price for the national carrier by June end. The intention is to complete the sale of a 76% stake in the airline before the end of the financial year.

The government on 1 May extended the privatization process of Air India by a fortnight and clarified various knotty issues identified by potential bidders.

Notably, Jet Airways ruled out a bid for debt-laden national carrier Air India citing unfavorable terms of the offer.

The announcement came just days after rival IndiGo pulled out of the race to acquire Air India's operations meaning the government now has no clear frontrunner in the sale campaign.

Once the country's monopoly airline, Air India has slowly lost market share to new low-cost private players in one of the world's fastest-growing airline markets.

Indian Aviation Spreading its Wings

Air travel has recorded double-digit growth for 40 consecutive months, thanks to low fares, the addition of new flights/destinations, and overall growth in the economy.

What's foreseeable for India's aviation traffic in 2018 is some pressure on the back of the consistent rise in crude oil prices. Earlier this month, Brent crude oil briefly breached US$70 per barrel and touched its highest level since December 2014. Crude prices have been driven up by production curbs in OPEC nations and Russia, as well as by robust demand on the back of healthy global economic growth.

Oil prices are closely monitored by the Indian air carriers, as aviation turbine fuel is their single largest input cost. A sharp rise in the cost of fuel puts pressure on margins, and consequently an increase in air fares.

Although air travel is becoming the new normal, investors need to understand the industry dynamics before buying up aviation stocks.

Moving on to news from stocks in the banking sector. SBI share price was among the few gainers in the negative markets today.

The state-run bank was in focus today after it unveiled plans to sell a stake of up to 49% in its investment banking subsidiary SBI Capital Markets (SBI Caps) and is looking for a joint venture partner.

Notably, this sale is a part of a Rs 200 billion capital raising exercise for FY19 to fund growth.

Meanwhile, the bank is also looking to sell 3-5% in SBI General Insurance in FY18, and selling a stake in SBI Card in FY20.

The bank is also in the process of merging the project advisory businesses of SBI Caps with the bank. There was a of duplication with SBI's own advisory business and, hence, the decision to merge the two.

SBI Caps had reported a net profit of Rs 3.2 billion for FY18, up 30% from Rs 2.5 billion in FY17.

The investment bank has five wholly owned subsidiaries - SBICAP Securities, SBICAP Trustee Co, SBICAP (UK), SBICAP (Singapore), and SBICAP Ventures. SBI Caps is the largest domestic investment bank, offering all investment banking and corporate advisory services. These services include project advisory and loan syndication, structured debt placement, capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, private equity and stressed assets resolution.

SBI share price ended the day up by 3.7%.

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