STOCK MARKET WELCOME NEW YEAR WITH LOSS

Sensex drops 244 pts

A late sell-off in auto, banking and IT shares pulled back the benchmark BSE Sensex from record high level to close down by 244 points, its biggest single loss in past one month, on the first trading day of 2018. Investors preferred to book profits at record highs amid concerns over fiscal slippages and rising crude oil prices and absence of cues from global markets which were closed for the New Year holiday. The benchmark Sensex touched a low of 33,766.15 before settling lower by 244.08 points, or 0.72 per cent, at 33,812.75. This is the biggest single-day fall since December 1 when the index had lost 316.41. The 30-share index had closed at an all-time high of 34,056.83 in the last session of 2017 on Friday. Also, the 50-share Nifty cracked below the 10,500-mark to hit a low of 10,423.10 before settling 95.15 points, or 0.90 per cent down at 10,435.55. Stocks opened on a weak note and remained range-bound for the better part of the day but an intense sell-off in the last hour of the trade dragged the key indices deep down, brokers said. Bouts of buying were, however, seen in capital goods, realty, healthcare and consumer durables stocks that capped the losses to some extent.
In the Sensex kitty, TCS emerged as the top loser by falling 1.69 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank 1.45 per cent and Hindustan Unilever 1.40 per cent.
Other big losers include HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, ONGC, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Asian Paint, HDFC Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank and Yes Bank, dropping by up to 1.35 per cent. Auto stocks such as Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp too came under pressure and lost up to 1.35 per cent after December sales data failed to cheer investors. Maruti reported a 10 per cent rise in December sales. "Despite positive auto sales numbers, market started-off the New Year on a cautious note. Lingering concern on fiscal slippages and a sharp up-move in crude prices dampened investor sentiments. Additionally, an expectation of weak monthly manufacturing data tomorrow is adding to the cautiousness," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said. US oil prices had finished above USD 60 a barrel for the first time since June 2015 while Brent North Sea crude for March delivery rose to USD 66.87 a barrel on Friday. The BSE auto index fell 0.78 per cent, followed by bankex 0.75 per cent, teck 0.65 per cent, IT 0.55 per cent, metal 0.52 per cent, oil & gas 0.46 per cent, FMCG 0.29 per cent, PSU 0.15 per cent and infrastructure 0.13 per cent. The near-absence of overseas cues meant investors remained directionless, forcing to cut their positions, brokers said.
In contrast, investors indulged in widening their portfolios in the second-line stocks which outperformed the key indices. Small-cap and mid-cap indices closed with gains of 0.26 per cent and 0.08 per cent, respectively.

---------------------------------------- 

Rs 1.6 lakh cr raised via stock mkt routes in 2017

A total of Rs 1,61,116 crore was raised through various equity market routes in 2017, the highest ever mop-up in a calendar year, with IPOs and QIPs dominating the scene, says a report by PRIME Database. "2017 witnessed raising of Rs 1.6 lakh crore through the public equity market, 3.6 times the amount raised in the preceding year," said Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database. This is the highest ever amount raised in a calendar year, with the previous highest being Rs 97,746 crore in 2010. "2018 looks even more promising. On the IPO front, already at the beginning of the year, there are 15 companies holding Sebi approval wanting to raise nearly Rs 12,000 crore and another 10 firms hoping to raise nearly Rs 19,000 crore awaiting approval," said Haldea. 2017 was also the best year ever for the initial public offer (IPO) market by far at Rs 68,826 crore, the previous highest being in 2010 when Rs 37,535 crore was raised, Haldea said.
As many as 36 main-board IPOs came to the market collectively raising Rs 67,147 crore, with the largest by General Insurance Corp worth Rs 11,257 crore. The overall response from public to the mainboard IPOs of the year was also very good, the report said. While 17 IPOs received a mega response of more than 10 times, the rest 13 offers were oversubscribed between 1 and 3 times. As far as retail investors are concerned, the year witnessed a very good response from them as well. The highest number of applications was received by Cochin Shipyard at 19.42 lakh followed by HUDCO (18.74 lakh). Response to the IPOs was further buoyed by strong listing performance, Haldea added. Of the 36 IPOs which got listed, 18 gave a return of over 10 per cent, the report noted. Last year also witnessed significant activity in the SME platform. There were as many as 133 SME IPOs, the highest ever, which collected a total of Rs 1,679 crore. According to PRIME, offers for sale through stock exchanges, which is for dilution of promoters holding, saw an increase from Rs 13,066 crore raised in 2016 to Rs 19,208 crore raised last year. The largest OFS was that of NTPC in August (Rs 9,192 crore) followed by BEL in February (Rs 1,687 crore). OFS accounted for 12 per cent of the total Rs 1,61,116 crore market amount, it said. Already-listed companies found the QIP route very attractive, with 44 companies mobilising Rs 61,118 crore, the highest ever. The largest QIP of 2017 was from SBI raising Rs 15,000 crore, accounting for 25 per cent of the total QIP amount. Only two companies used the IPP route, mobilising Rs 4,668 crore. Of the total, the amount raised through fresh capital was Rs 86,176 crore (53 per cent), the remaining Rs 74,940 crore being offer for sale. The report further said 2017 was the best year ever with Rs 73,282 crore raised by the government. Public offers (IPOs of HUDCO, Cochin Shipyard, GIC, New India Assurance and OFS of MOIL, BEL, NALCO, RCFL, NFL, HCL, NTPC, NLC) constituted a lion’s share of divestment proceeds at Rs 33,418 crore. This was followed by ETFs at Rs 23,000 crore, block deals (SUUTI sales of L&T and ITC) at Rs 10,844 crore, buybacks (NHPC, NLC, OIL, EIL, Bharat Dynamics) at Rs 5,627 crore and sale of shares to employees at Rs 394 crore, it said.