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Meeting of PSB Chiefs with RBI Governor; Easing Trade Tensions & Top Stocks in Action Today
Fri, 14 Dec Pre-Open

On Thursday, Indian share markets ended higher led by gains in public sector banks and automobile stocks.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex ended at 35,930, up 151 points, while the Nifty index settled at 10,792, up 54 points. In the broader market, the midcap and small-cap indices outperformed their benchmark peers.

Top Stocks in Focus

Unichem Laboratories share price will be in focus today as the General Court of European Union rejected the company's appeal on court decision on breach of EU competition law, and also confirmed a fine of 14 million euros.

YES Bank share price will hog limelight today as the private lender failed to finalise the name of MD & CEO.

Tata Motors will hike prices of its passenger vehicles across models by up to Rs 40,000 from 1 January 2019, to offset the impact of rising input costs and increase in fuel prices.

Max India will reportedly sell entire 51% stake in Max Bupa Health Insurance Company to True North Managers. With this, the company will exit the health insurance business after it entered as a promoter. The stock will be in focus.

Strides Pharma Science's subsidiary, Strides Pharma Global Pte., Singapore, has received approval for Lidocaine Ointment from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA). It is a generic version of Xylocaine Ointment of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP.

Meanwhile, Sun Pharmaceutical will be in focus after markets regulator said it is examining the whistleblower complaint against the company.

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

By the way, you can read our recently released Q2FY19 result analysis of the following companies: Asian Paints, TVS Motors, Wipro, Ambuja Cement, HDFC Bank, Infosys and more.

RBI Governor Meets PSB Chiefs

Shares of public sector undertaking (PSU) banks were trading higher for the third straight session on Thursday, with the Nifty PSU Bank index gaining nearly 3% ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das's meeting with the heads of the state-owned banks later in the day.

State Bank of India (SBI), Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank were up in the range of 1% to 5%.

Hours after assuming charge as governor of the RBI on Wednesday, Shaktikanta Das spelt out his priorities, asserting that he would uphold the autonomy, credibility and integrity of the institution.

Das was named the 25th governor of the Reserve Bank of India to succeed Urjit Patel. As we all know, Urjit Patel quit abruptly on Monday amid a bitter dispute over the regulator's autonomy.

So, the big question here is, does the RBI woes end with new leader?

As per an article in The Economic Times, India can burn through as many central bankers as it wishes, but unless politicians let the Reserve Bank of India do its job, the economic setup will fall short of the nation's aspirations.

The article compares RBI with China's Central Bank. Here's an excerpt from the article:

  • Perhaps the central bank with which the RBI should be compared is the People's Bank of China. As an established democracy, India ought to have a much easier time giving its central bank independence from politics. China isn't a democracy, and yet the PBOC has developed some degree of independence on operational issues, if not on policy. The disparity is illuminating.

    Despite serious shortcomings, China's central bank is moving generally in the right direction. Can the same be said of India's?

How this pans out for the Indian economy remains to be seen.

Global Stock Market Drivers

On Thursday, Asian equity markets rallied on signs of easing Sino-US trade tensions and expectations that China will step up efforts soon to support its cooling economy.

In the currency market, sterling gave up some ground after rallying from a 20-month low after Theresa May survived a party no-confidence vote. It was last trading at US$1.2626

Market Participants expect gains in the pound will be fleeting, as May appeared no closer to getting her EU divorce agreement through parliament, raising the risk of a chaotic exit from the bloc in March.

Here are key events to watch out today:

  • The European Central Bank is expected to end asset purchases at its final policy meeting of 2018.
  • China industrial production, retail sales data for November is due today.

Oil Prices Fall

Oil prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by a draw down in US crude stockpiles and indications that China is taking concrete steps to put a trade war truce with Washington into action.

Crude oil prices have also been supported by OPEC-led supply curbs announced last week. Although gains were capped after the producer group lowered its 2019 demand forecast.

International Brent crude oil futures were at US$60.5 per barrel, up 0.5%, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at US$51.4 per barrel, up 0.4%.

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