On Tuesday, Indian equity indices dropped for the third day in a row in a tumultuous session, reflecting weakening in global markets and fresh fears about the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Midcap index fell 0.37%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.05%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.39%, Utilities up by 1.16%, Oil & Gas up by 0.71%, Healthcare up by 0.63% and Capital Goods up by 0.59%, while Telecom down by 1.37%, Auto down by 0.87%, Energy down by 0.71%, FMCG down by 0.60%, Finance down by 0.52% were the top losing indices on BSE.

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The Nifty50 has formed a small positive candle at the lows with minor upper and lower shadows, hinting at the formation of a high wave type pattern, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities. 

Normally, such a pattern following reasonable weakness alerts for a trend reversal, but a confirmation is required in this case, he said. 

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 17,241.73, followed by 17,158.57. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,392.13 and 17,459.37.

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Indian Indices

Sensex fell 166.33 points or 0.29% to 58,117.09 while Nifty was down by 43.35 points or 0.25% to 17,324.90 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 58,322.42 and 57,803.87, respectively and there were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index while Nifty traded in a range of 17,376.20 and 17,225.80 and there were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. 

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 120-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,326.20 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:10 hours IST.

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Asian Markets

Asian markets finished broadly lower today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is down 1.33% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 is off 0.73% and China’s Shanghai Composite is lower by 0.53%.

US Markets

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.1%. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fared the best, down 107 points, or 0.3%.

European Markets

European markets finished broadly lower today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is down 1.08% while France’s CAC 40 is off 0.69% and London’s FTSE 100 is lower by 0.18%.

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In November, India’s exports increased by 27.16% to $30.04 billion, while the trade deficit remained at $22.91 billion

India’s merchandise exports jumped 27.16 percent to USD 30.04 billion in November on the back of good performance by sectors like petroleum products, engineering goods, and electronic items, official data showed on Tuesday. The exports stood at USD 23.62 billion in November 2020. Imports in November were at USD 52.94 billion, showing an increase of 56.58 percent over inbound shipments of USD 33.81 billion in the year-ago month. Gold imports rose nearly 40 percent to USD 4.22 billion as against 3.02 billion in November 2020. As per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the November trade deficit stood at USD 22.91 billion. This compares with USD 10.19 billion in November 2020.

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SEBI establishes a panel to seek solutions for detecting early market anomalies

Markets regulator SEBI on Tuesday said it has constituted an advisory committee for guiding it to enhance technological capabilities and explore appropriate technological solutions for early detection of market anomalies. The Advisory Committee for Leveraging Regulatory and Technology Solutions (ALeRTS) will be headed by SEBI’s ex-whole-time member Madhabi Puri Buch, a release said. It would also comprise experts from various technology domains as members. The terms of reference of the committee include recommending future roadmaps and improvements in the various ongoing technology projects and guiding SEBI in designing and framing requirements for the various in-house systems. Besides, it would also guide the regulator from a domain perspective in finding appropriate technology solutions.

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NSE Indices has launched the Nifty India Digital Index to track stocks with a ‘digital theme.’

On December 14, NSE Indices Ltd, the index services arm of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), announced the launch of the Nifty India Digital Index, which would monitor firms exposed to the “digital theme.” “The new index aims to track the performance of a portfolio of stocks that broadly represent the digital theme within basic industries like software, e-commerce, IT-enabled services, industrial electronics, and telecom services companies,” NSE Indices said in a press release. The top 30 stocks from qualified basic sectors are picked based on their six-month average free-float market capitalization as of the end-of-January and end-of-July cutoff dates, it stated. According to NSE Indices, the weight of the stocks in the index is based on their free-float market capitalization, with sector weights set at 50% and stock weights capped at 7.5%.

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In November, Jio topped the 4G download speed chart, while Vodafone Idea topped the upload speed chart, according to TRAI

Reliance Jio retained its top position with the highest average data download speed of 24.1 megabits per second among 4G service providers in November, according to the latest data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Vodafone Idea (VIL) and Bharti Airtel network also recorded a rise in average 4G download speed during the month. Jio network recorded around a 10 percent rise in average 4G data download speed while speed on VIL and Airtel network increased 8.9 percent and 5.3 percent respectively compared to the previous month. VIL maintained its leadership in terms of 4G data upload speed in October. The company’s network recorded an upload speed of 8 mbps, the highest in the last five months. Airtel and the Jio network also recorded their five-month high upload speeds of 5.6 mbps and 7.1 mbps, respectively, in November.

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RBI issues prompt corrective action framework for NBFCs

On December 14, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) established a framework for prompt corrective action (PCA) for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), proposing three risk threshold categories. PCA refers to limits placed by a banking regulator on the activities of a lender if the main financial criteria of these companies fall below a specified limit. Until recently, the RBI solely imposed PCA on banks. On November 2, 2021, the central bank announced the amended Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework for Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs). However, when NBFCs grew in size and complexity, the banking regulator thought it was important to implement a comparable framework for NBFCs as well. The PCA framework for NBFCs will come into force on October 1, 2022, based on the financial position of NBFCs on or after March 31, 2022, the RBI said.

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Bulk Deal data

Aalidhra Textool Engineers acquired 3 lakh equity shares in Anand Rathi Wealth at Rs 575.1 per share, Echjay Industries bought 3,42,871 equity shares at Rs 598.26 per share, Kamna Credits and Promoters acquired 3 lakh shares at Rs 600 per share, however, Integrated Core Strategies Asia Pte Ltd sold 3,72,477 shares in the company at Rs 600 per share on the NSE, the bulk deal data showed.

India Max Investment Fund sold 2,70,580 equity shares in Websol Energy System at Rs 83.97 per share on the NSE, the bulk deal data showed.

ABHINAV COMMOSALES sold 92,000 equity shares in ASL Industries Limited at Rs 33.10 per share on the NSE, the bulk deal data showed.

AGARWAL RAHUL bought 1,53,000 equity shares in CaliforniaSoft- Roll Sett at Rs 41.42  per share on the NSE, the bulk deal data showed.

ANAND RATHI GLOBAL FINANCE LTD sold 3,46,000 equity shares in Premier Limited at Rs 10.50 per share on the NSE.

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DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth net Rs 763.18 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth net Rs 425.43 crore in the Indian equity market on December 14, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

Escorts, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Vodafone Idea – are under the F&O ban for December 15. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.