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Sensex Ends 137 Points Higher; Realty and Telecom Stocks Witness Buying
Wed, 19 Dec Closing

Indian share markets continued their momentum throughout the day and ended the day on a strong note. Gains were largely seen in the realty sector, telecom sector and power sector.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 137 points (up 0.4%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 59 points (up 0.5%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up 1.5% and the BSE Small Cap index, ended the day up by 1.1%.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood up by 0.1% and the Nikkei was trading down by 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite stood lower by 1.1%.

European markets were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.7%. The DAX was up by 0.4% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.5%.

The rupee was trading at 70.36 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Speaking of Indian share markets, on Friday, the Sensex closed at 35,965, just a little shy of the 36,000 mark.

Incidentally, the Sensex closed at almost the same level - 35,963 to be precise - at the end of January 2018.

But are the broader markets also back to the levels they were in January 2018?

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Ankit Shah answers this question in one of the recent editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

To find out, he looked at the total market capitalisation of all the listed companies on the BSE.

The 10-Trillion Rupee Gap Between the Sensex and the Broader Markets

Here's what he wrote...

  • The total equity market capitalisation of the BSE-listed companies was Rs 153 trillion at the end of January 2018.

    The market capitalisation dropped over the next few months as the markets slid into correction mode. This was a time when small and mid-cap stocks were the worst hit.

    However, the total market capitalisation went on to hit an all-time high of Rs 159 trillion in August 2018. This was driven mainly by the index heavyweight stocks. The broader markets hadn't quite recovered.

    Eventually, the markets witnessed a major correction through September and October. The Indian markets closed the month of October with a total market capitalisation of Rs 138 trillion. In two months, the markets had lost Rs 21 trillion in market capitalisation.

    There has been some recovery since then. However, the total market capitalisation is still Rs 10 trillion lower than January 2018.

    So, while the Sensex is back to where it was at the end of January, the broader markets are yet to recover.

In the news from the banking space, IDBI Bank share price was in focus today as the lender yesterday said that it has received final letter from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for an open offer to acquire additional 26% in the lender.

The open offer has been made at a price of Rs 61.73 a share, which is in connection with LIC's acquisition of 51% controlling stake in IDBI Bank.

Last month, the Competition Commission cleared LIC's proposed acquisition of up to 51% stake in debt-laden IDBI Bank.

Reportedly, the deal would help the insurance behemoth to enter the banking space and would provide business synergies despite the IDBI Bank's stressed balance sheet.

In August, the government gave its nod for the LIC's proposed purchase of up to 51% stake in the bank.

With the deal, the insurer would have access to around 2,000 branches of the bank through which it can sell its products.

However, at Equitymaster, we believe this attempt to bail out the troubled IDBI Bank is a classic case of the state insurer buying toxic assets.

Ask an average Indian investor about the next best thing after safe bank deposits. I can bet they would tell you about LIC policies.

For generations Indians have treasured LIC policies in their safe deposit lockers like their gold and fixed deposit receipts.

Therefore, Vivek Kaul, the Editor, Vivek Kaul's Diary, believes dumping IDBI Bank on to LIC, is definitely not an example of saaf niyat, as the country has been promised.

As he writes...

  • In simple English, the government is basically unloading its junkiest bank on the insurance behemoth, and hence, on the people of this country.

    As on March 31, 2018, the bank had Rs 55,000 crore worth of bad loans. Over and above this, it has stressed loans of Rs 60,000 crore, which means that the bad loans of the bank can keep going up in the months to come.

    There is a school of thought that says that LIC should be allowed into the banking sector. But on the basis of what? What expertise does LIC have in the core-banking area?

You can read Vivek's full insight in his article titled LIC Buying IDBI Bank is Not Saaf Niyat here.

In other news, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be purchasing Rs 500 billion of bonds in January in its open market operation (OMO).

It has further earmarked an additional Rs 100 billion in OMO for December.

This is to intensify cash injection into the banking system starved of cash.

The RBI had earlier stated that the system liquidity will move into deficit in the second half of FY19 and the evolving liquidity conditions would determine its choice of instruments for both transient and durable liquidity management.

OMOs is one of the tools which can be used to either inject or drain liquidity from the system.

It is employed to adjust rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.

The OMO by the RBI will help in easing the cash shortage in the system and stabilise debt market rates.

It will also help ease tight liquidity situation triggered by series of default by group companies of IL&FS.

What effect the above measure will have on the banking system remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

To know more on what moved the Indian stock markets today, you can check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary


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