After opening the day in red, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day and ended the day in above the dotted line. Sectoral indices traded mixed, with stocks in the energy sector and stocks in the banking sector, leading the gains.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 97 points (up 0.3%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 31 points (up 0.3%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 2.1%.
The rupee was trading at Rs 74.01 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 83.15 at the time of writing.
Asian stock markets finished in red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 1.3% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 3.5%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 1.1%. Meanwhile, European markets too were trading on a negative note. The FTSE 100 was down by 0.4%. The DAX, was down by 0.7% while the CAC 40 was down by 0.6%
In news from stocks in the finance sector. The current rout in non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) could see a turnaround in less than a year. According the Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg the crisis at debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), which now has a government-selected board, will be substantially resolved in the next six to nine months.
He said the first priority of the new IL&FS board will be to seek an orderly repayment of its obligations coming up in the next few weeks and months and subsequently put in place a programme to sell assets in a transparent manner to realise their best value and use those funds for repaying the liabilities.
However, he ruled out an infusion of fresh capital, either by the government or other shareholders.
A look at the share holding pattern of IL&FS underlines the scale of the problem.
Two of India's biggest entities comprise of the top 5 shareholders in IL&FS. LIC has a 25.3% stake. HDFC Ltd owns 9%. Along with Central bank of India (7.7%) and State Bank of India (6.4%), these entities own almost half of IL&FS.
IL&FS - Too Big to Fail?
That explains the determination of LIC to stop the situation from worsening further.
The chairman of LIC has hinted at increasing LIC's exposure to IL&FS.
IL&FS' long-term and short-term debt were recently downgraded to 'D' i.e. 'default' or 'junk' after it failed to repay its obligations.
In such a scenario, finding a buyer for its debt instruments will be difficult.
A lot of these loans to IL&FS were given by banks who till recently were grappling with NPA issues.
Adding all these stakeholders signifies how much is at stake on the revival of IL&FS.
Moving on to news from stocks in the engineering sector. L&T share price was in focus today after the company's subsidiary bagged major orders.
The power and transmission business of the subsidiary L&T Construction won orders worth Rs 18.8 billion in both domestic and international markets.
The business secured major orders for constructing 22 132/11kV substations in Kuwait.
Additional orders have been received from ongoing transmission line projects in India and Egypt.
The company said it has also received orders for implementation of a high voltage distribution system in the semi-urban and rural areas of Kharagpur and Midnapur in West Bengal.
L&T share price ended the day down 1.1%.
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