Indian share markets erased most of the gains as the session progressed and ended marginally higher.
Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the telecom sector and FMCG sector witnessing buying interest, while realty stocks and energy stocks witnessed selling pressure.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 61 points and the NSE Nifty closed up by 18 points. The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended up by 0.3%.
Asian stock markets finished on a positive note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up 2.1% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 2%. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.1%.
The rupee is trading at 73.17 against the US$.
Speaking of the current stock market scenario, market participants are seen taking flight to safety as stock markets see a sharp fall post the Coronavirus impact.
In news from the IPO space, the mega initial public offering (IPO) by SBI Cards and Payment Services (SBI) got oversubscribed 21.5 times so far on its final day of the bidding process today.
SBI Card will offer shares to its employees at a discount of Rs 75 over final IPO price that is expected to be decided in the next couple of days.
The qualified institutional buyers' portion, which closed on March 4, was subscribed 57.18 times. Meanwhile, the company garnered Rs 27.7 billion through anchor book, which closed on February 28.
The price band for the share sale, which would be open from March 2 to 5, has been fixed at Rs 750-755 apiece.
Incorporated in 1998, SBI Cards is the second-largest credit card issuer in India, with an 18% market share of the credit cards market in terms of the number of cards outstanding.
SBI holds 76% in SBI Cards and the rest of the stake is held by Carlyle Group.
HDFC Bank has the largest credit cards business in the country with 13.3 million cards issued, while ICICI Bank stood third with 7.9 million credit cards, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India.
SBI Card's total credit card spends grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 54.2% over FY17-FY19 compared with an industry average of 35.6%.
To know more the SBI Cards' business, the credit card industry, and whether you should apply to this IPO, you can read one of Ankit's latest notes here: SBI Cards IPO: Apply or Avoid? (requires subscription).
Speaking of IPOs, in one of the editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp, Ankit Shah shared how IPOs offer insights into the mood of the stock markets.
He picked the six most successful IPOs of the year and checked the retail investor enthusiasm for them.
Obviously, all these IPOs were oversubscribed across investor categories. But the level of retail investor enthusiasm differed widely, depending on the overall market sentiments.
Here's what Ankit wrote about it...
- Clearly, IRCTC witnessed the highest number of bids for the retail category. Factoring in the discount of Rs 10 per share for the retail category, the total bids were worth a whopping Rs 3,242 crore. Over five times the entire IPO size!
Polycab India and the recent IPO of CSB Bank also received a strong thumbs-up from retail investors.
Does this hint that retail investors are coming back to the markets? Could we witness of flurry of IPOs in the coming months?
It would be interesting to see how this trend pans out in 2020.
We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space. Stay tuned!
Moving on to news from commodity space, gold was trading on a volatile note today. Gold prices in India fell for the first time in three days as profit-taking and stronger equities hurt the precious metal.
However, a weaker rupee capped the fall.
As per the data, gold futures on MCX fell 0.55% today to Rs 43,330 per 10 grams on profit-taking after the recent rally that took prices closer to record highs.
In the global markets, gold prices were flat as upbeat US data dented the safe haven appeal for the yellow-metal.
Note that 2019 proved pretty good for gold, as gold surged amid fears of a possible slowdown in global growth and uncertainty surrounding geopolitical crisis in West Asia and Britain's divorce from the European Union.
The same uptrend is also seen in 2020 so far.
Gold prices are seen rising as the rapid spread of coronavirus cases outside of China and its potential negative impact on the global economy are prompting investors to take refuge in safe haven assets like gold.
Increase in the number of new coronavirus cases outside China over the past few days have bolstered the safe haven appeal of gold. South Korea, Italy and Iran have logged sharp increases in infections and deaths, while several countries in the Middle East reported their first cases of coronavirus.
The international spot gold prices have rallied to seven-year highs while India's domestic gold prices rallied to all-time highs.
Speaking of gold, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?
The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...
Gold Has Been a Shining Long-Term Investment
As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.
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