Benchmarks hit day's high; IT shares correct

The main equity indices reversed losses and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. The recovery was led by firmness in banks and auto shares. At 14:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 99.32 points or 0.23% at 44,052.03. The Nifty 50 index added 21.35 points or 0.17% at 12,895.55.

The broader market indices continued trading higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.03% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.80%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1505 shares rose and 1182 shares fell. A total of 200 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 5,56,27,041 with 13,38,130 deaths. India reported 4,46,805 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,30,993 deaths while 83,35,109 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank under Moratorium:

Lakshmi Vilas Bank hit a lower circuit of 20% at Rs 12.40 after the central government on Tuesday (17 November 2020) placed the cash-strapped bank under moratorium for a period of one month.

The bank's customers will be able to withdraw only Rs 25,000 from their accounts till 16 December 2020. T N Manoharan, former non-executive chairman of Canara Bank, has been appointed as the administrator of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB).

Further, the Reserve bank of India (RBI) has invited comments on its draft merger scheme between LVB and with DBS Bank India (DBIL). DBIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based DBS Bank, which in turn is a subsidiary of Asia's leading financial services group, DBS Group Holdings. It has been issued a banking license to operate as banking company on 4 October 2018.

DBIL has a healthy balance sheet, with strong capital support. Although the DBIL is well capitalised, it will bring in additional capital of Rs 2,500 crore upfront, to support credit growth of the merged entity. Owing to comfortable level of capital, the combined balance sheet of DBIL would remain healthy after the proposed amalgamation, with CRAR at 12.51% and CET-1 capital at 9.61%, without considering the infusion of additional capital, the central bank said in a statement.

LVB posted a net loss of Rs 397 crore in Q2 September 2020 as compared to a net loss of Rs 357.18 crore in Q2 September 2019. Total income fell 25.7% year on year to Rs 494.58 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank administrator to address the media at 3 PM today.

Buzzing Segment:

The Nifty IT index fell 1.12% to 21,248.10. The index had gained 2.43% in the past four sessions.

TCS (down 1.70%), Infosys (down 1.66%), Wipro (down 1.48%), MindTree (down 1.42%) and Tech Mahindra (down 1.31%) declined while Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 1.73%) and Info Edge India (up 0.49%) advanced.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged higher to 74.17 compared with its previous closing 74.46.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.878% compared with its closing of 5.877% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 December 2020 settlement shed 0.43% to Rs 50,550.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for January 2021 settlement rose 29 cents to $44.04 a barrel. The contract shed 0.16% or 7 cents to settle at $43.75 in the previous trading sessions.

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