SGX Nifty Trades Higher, Why Markets Plunged 695 Points, Rising Crude Oil Prices, and Top Buzzing Stocks Today

Thu, 26 Nov Pre-Open | Monish Vora, TM Team

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Indian share markets witnessed heavy selling pressure during closing hours yesterday, pausing the record rally, following broad-based selling.

At the closing bell yesterday, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 695 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty ended down by 197 points.

Eicher Motors was the top loser in NSE. Meanwhile, the top gainers in NSE were ONGC and GAIL.

On the sectoral front, banking stocks and realty stocks were among the hardest hit.

Oil exploration & production stocks were also in focus yesterday as crude oil prices hit their highest level since March amid news flow related to smooth US presidency transition and encouraging developments on the Covid-19 vaccine front.

At 8 am today, the SGX Nifty was trading up by 52 points, or 0.4% higher at 12,915 levels. Indian share markets are headed for a positive opening today following the positive trend on SGX Nifty.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX were trading up by 0.3% at Rs 48,735 per 10 grams at the time of closing stock market hours yesterday.

To know more about gold, you can check out our detailed article on investing in gold here: How to Invest in Gold?

Speaking of the stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani talks about how he knew when to turn bullish on the market, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

In the video below, Vijay shares his unconventional 360 degree approach that told him the markets were looking positive in May when everyone said they were going to crash like they did in March.

Tune in here to find out more:

Top Stocks in Focus Today

JSW Steel will be among the top buzzing stocks today.

JSW Steel is offering differential pricing as part of its personalised services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), marking a trend as the industry ups its bills.

The company said personalization ensures quality and availability. The right quality of product and just-in-time supplies along with a preferential international pricing will enable the MSMEs to compete in the international market.

BREAKING: Full Details of the #1 Investment of the Decade...

JSW has launched a site where MSMEs can register. As MSMEs account for 22-25% of the company's supplies, a proper supply chain and pricing advantage will help it compete with international players in the export market.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank share price will also be in focus today as shares of the private lender erased its initial losses and surged yesterday after the Cabinet approved the merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS Bank India.

Following the approval, DBS Group Holdings - Singapore's biggest bank, will take over Lakshmi Vilas Bank in a deal pushed by the RBI. This also marks the first instance when India has turned to a foreign entity to bail out a struggling domestic bank.

Top Factors Why Indian Stock Markets Plunged 695 Points Yesterday

Profit Booking: Indian share markets witnessed profit-booking ahead of the expiry of the November F&O series yesterday. Besides, rising cases of Covid-19 remain an overhang.

Broader Markets Underperform: In sync with the benchmark indices, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices too suffered strong losses. The BSE Mid Cap index ended down by 1.8%. The BSE Small Cap index ended lower by 1.1%.

All Sectoral Indices End in Red: On the sectoral front, all sectoral indices ended on a negative note yesterday with realty stocks, banking stocks and telecom stocks witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Companies Under Profiteering Probe: Investor sentiment dampened after it was reported that more than 100 companies are being probed for allegedly inflating their bottom-lines by not passing on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) relief to consumers, the intended beneficiary of several rounds of tax reductions since 2017.

Reportedly, most of the ongoing investigations by the Directorate General of Anti-Profiteering (DGAP) are against real estate developers, fast food joints and cinemas.

Another reason for yesterday's fall is the new rules on margins announced by the regulator.

From 1^st December, your life as a trader will get harder. For a detailed discussion on this important topic, watch Vijay's latest video.

We will keep you updated on how these factors develop in the coming days and what effect they have on Indian stock markets. Stay tuned!

Crude Oil Prices Surge on Coronavirus Vaccine Hopes

In news from the commodity space, crude oil prices witnessed huge buying interest this week to touch highs not seen since March as a third promising coronavirus vaccine raised hope for fuel demand recovery and US President-elect Joseph Biden began his transition to the White House.

Brent crude settled at US$ 47.86 a barrel, gaining US$ 1.80, or 3.9%. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at US$ 44.91 a barrel, rising US$ 1.85, or 4.3%. Both benchmarks ended at their highest close since March 5.

Note that the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with the collapse of an OPEC-led output pact sent crude oil prices crashing in March.

After the collapse of that output pact led to a brief Saudi Arabia-Russia price war, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies agreed a new deal on record production cuts to support prices.

The group known as OPEC+ is expected to roll over those cuts into 2021 after meeting November 30 to December 1.

Speaking of crude oil, in one of his videos, Vijay Bhambwani explains why crude oil prices and natural gas prices are moving in opposite directions.

You can check the same here: Why Are Crude Oil and Natural Gas Prices Moving in Opposite Directions?

Non-Performing Loans in Banking Sector to Witness an Uptick

S&P Global Ratings said that non-performing loans in the Indian banking sector is likely to witness an uptick and may shoot up to 11% of gross loans in the next 12-18 months.

It said forbearance is "masking" problem assets for Indian banks arising from Covid-19 and the financial institutions will likely have trouble maintaining momentum after the proportion of non-performing loans (NPL) to total loans declined consistently so far this year.

In its report titled "The Stress Fractures In Indian Financial Institutions", S&P said with loan repayment moratoriums having ended on August 31, 2020, NPLs in the banking sector will likely shoot up to 10-11% of gross loans in the next 12-18 months, from 8% on June 30, 2020.

According to S&P, the banking system's credit costs will remain elevated at 2.2-2.9% this year and next while 3-8% of loans could get restructured.

It would be interesting to track how these numbers actually pan out. We are closely tracking this sector and will keep you updated on all the news from this space.

Speaking of banking sector, note that earlier this week, the central bank's Internal Working Group (IWG) proposed 12 changes to ownership guidelines and corporate structure for Indian private sector banks.

Here are some of these top changes proposed:

• The group has recommended that large corporate/industrial houses may be permitted to promote banks only after necessary amendments to the Banking Regulations Act, 1949 to deal with connected lending and exposures between the banks and other financial and non-financial group entities.
• The cap on promoters' stake in the long run may be raised from the current levels of 15% to 26% of the paid-up voting equity share capital of the bank. The group, however, suggested a long 15-year transition for this change.
• Large NBFCs with an asset size of Rs 500 billion, including those owned by corporate houses may be allowed to convert to private banks.

Here's what Tanushree Banerjee, co-head of Research at Equitymaster, has to say about the above recommendations by the RBI for private banks...

• The RBI's new ownership guidelines for corporate structure of Indian private-sector banks seeks to change the central bank's conservative stance on the subject. The RBI's latest recommendation may allow large corporate houses to run banking businesses.
  
  From the conditional nature of the recommendation, it appears that large corporates could acquire NBFCs, which may be allowed to convert into banks.
  
  However, such recommendations were earlier rejected by the central bank on the grounds of 'conflict of interest' with the corporates' other businesses.
  
  Do note that even today 70% of the bad loans in the banking system are in the form of corporate NPAs.
  
  So, while stronger regulations may be necessary to issue banking licenses to large corporates, in the near term the guidelines could bring in liquidity and better valuations for the sector.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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