By Porisma P. Gogoi
Mumbai, Nov 12 (IANS) The surprise victory of Republican Donald Trump in the US Presidential election, along with a sudden demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, spooked investors into a selling spree and plunged the key Indian equity markets by more than 1.50 per cent during the just concluded week.
Besides, a weak rupee and lower crude oil prices, combined with the political and economic backlash of the demonetisation move and outflow of foreign funds, dragged the equity markets lower.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE closed the week's trade with a loss of 455.33 points or 1.67 per cent to 26,818.82 points.
Similarly, the 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) receded by 137.45 points or 1.63 per cent to 8,296.30 points.
"Global stock markets have had a torrid Wednesday given the jitteriness over the outcome of the US election," D.K. Aggarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, SMC Investments and Advisors, told IANS.
"The victory of Donald Trump took market participants around the world by surprise and sent markets into a tailspin. However, the markets recovered after Trump sounded more presidential in his (post-victory) address to Americans."
Aggarwal added that the domestic markets tumbled on the Modi government's move to curb black money.
Another major theme last week was the heightened expectations of a possible rate-hike in the US.
A hike can potentially lead foreign portfolio investors (FPI) and funds away from emerging markets such as India. It is also expected to dent the business margins of corporates as access to capital from the US will become more expensive.
"Global markets' sentiment is negative due to the strong possibility of a rate-hike by the Federal Reserve in December," stock brokerage firm Angel Broking said in a commentary to IANS.
In addition, profit booking ahead of a long weekend, rupee depreciation and foreign funds outflow extended the falls.
The Indian rupee depreciated by 56 paise to 67.26 against a US dollar from last week's close of 66.70, as the dollar index gained worldwide.
In terms of investments, provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed an outflow of Rs 3,923.92 crore in foreign funds.
Figures from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) disclosed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net sellers of equities worth Rs 1,670.71 crore, or $250.47 million from November 7-11.
However, value buying at lower levels helped the key indices recover.
"On the domestic front, sentiments remained optimistic on the report that retail inflation is expected to soften to 4.1 per cent in October and further ease to a sub-4 per cent level by November-December, largely helped by favorable base effect," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.
"Sentiments remained upbeat with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that tax collections will go up considerably in the medium-to-long term as more people will come under the tax net due to the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes."
The top weekly Sensex gainers were led by State Bank of India (SBI), up 12.37 per cent at Rs 272.90, followed by Dr. Reddy's Lab (up 5.96 per cent at Rs 3,260.65), Tata Steel (up 5.90 per cent at Rs 426.85), Power Grid (up 5.59 per cent at Rs 183.15) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (up 5.55 per cent at Rs 688.95).
The losers were Maruti Suzuki (down 10.12 per cent at Rs 5,136.15), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (down 9.66 per cent at Rs 2,105.05), Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) (down 9.52 per cent at Rs 1,241.85), Hero MotoCorp (down 9.17 per cent at Rs 2,981.75) and HDFC (down 8.25 per cent at Rs 1,271.50).
(Porisma P. Gogoi can be contacted at porisma.g@ians.in)
