On Tuesday, share markets in India opened in green but ended on a weak note. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 99 points to end the day at 34,346. While the broader NSE Nifty ended the day lower by 28 points to end at 10,554 levels.
Among BSE sectoral indices, bank stocks fell the most by 2%, followed by realty index at 1.4%. SBI and Axis Bank were among the top losers.
Top Stocks in Action Today
Punjab National Bank (PNB) share price is likely to be in focus today after the bank revealed additional unauthorised transactions related to the scam by billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle and business partner, Mehul Choksi, increasing the estimated size of the fraud by US$204 million (Rs 13.22 billion).
ACC Ltd share price and Ambuja Cement share price are among the stocks to watch, after after they announced that “there are currently some constraints to implement a merger”. Reportedly, one of the major constraints is related to the transfer of rights of mining assets.
India’s GVA to Recover
Domestic rating agency, ICRA in its latest report has said that it expects the growth of India’s gross value added (GVA) at basic prices in year-on-year (YoY) terms to record a sequential recovery to 6.8% in Q3 (October-December) of FY18, on the back of improvement in the services and industrial sectors even as the expansion of agriculture, forestry and fishing is likely to display some moderation. Besides, it indicated that the country’s real GVA growth was at 6.1% in the second quarter of 2017-18.
According to the report, economic activity remained subdued during first half of fiscal year 2018, partly on account of the structural transition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), however, signs of a pick-up in economic growth are starting to appear.
Elaborating further, it said that higher growth in volumes in manufacturing and some of the services sub-sectors and in the government’s expenditure, a favourable base effect and an improvement in corporate earnings are expected to contribute to a sequential recovery in the y-o-y growth of GVA at basic prices in Q3.
