Indian markets open in the red amid weak global cues – Wipro, Zee Entertainment, RIL among stocks to watch out for

• Indian equity markets opened in the red on Friday following negative global cues.
• The 30-stock Sensex opened 265 points lower to open at 61,534, while Nifty50 shed 96 points to open lower at 18,319.
• Most Asian and the US markets were weak on recessionary fears as central banks across the world are raising interest rates after the US Fed on Wednesday.
• The Bank of England and European Central Bank also raised interest rates by 50 basis points, following in the footsteps of the US Fed.
• Rupee opened flat on Friday at 82.84 against the US dollar. Brent crude oil prices were also flat at $81.15.

Indian equity markets opened in the red on Friday following negative global cues on concerns over growth after central banks in Europe, England and the US hiked interest rates.

After the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, Bank of England and the European Central Bank also raised interest rates by 50 basis points. Inflation has become a pain point for several economies after the Covid-19 pandemic driven by supply bottlenecks, Russia-Ukraine war.

The 30-stock Sensex opened 265 points lower to open at 61,534, while Nifty50 shed 96 points to open lower at 18,319.

“Indian markets could open mildly lower, in line with largely negative Asian markets today and sharply lower US markets on Thursday,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.

Global markets remains tense over recession fears
Most Asian and the US markets were weak on recessionary fears after the US Fed’s hawkish commentary on rate hikes.

"There is a near term risk aversion in global equity markets. Following the 50 bp rate hike and hawkish message from the Fed on December 14, the European Central Bank and Bank of England also hiked rates on December 15 by 50 basis points each and delivered, perhaps, a more hawkish message than the Fed,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The US markets ended sharply lower on Thursday with S&P 500 down 2.49%. The tech heavy Nasdaq closed 3.23%% lower while Dow Jones ended 2.25% down.

Most Asian markets were trading lower on Friday with Nikkei 225 down the most with a 1.59% fall, Taiwan SE Weighted Index down 1.26%, Shanghai SE Composite Index down 0.25% while Hang Seng was up 0.3%.

Rupee opened flat on Friday at 82.84 against the US dollar. Brent crude oil prices were also flat at $81.15.

Stocks to watch out for
Wipro: The IT major has bagged a multi-million dollar five-year contract from Mazda Motor Logistics Europe to provide next-generation managed services.

Reliance Industries: Reliance Consumer Products, the FMCG arm of Reliance Ventures, launched its indigenous consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand ‘Independence’. The company said that under this brand, it will offer a wide range of products like staples, processed foods and other daily essentials.

Zee Entertainment: IDBI Bank has filed an insolvency application against the company initiating a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). The bank is one of the financial creditors of the company and is claiming a default of ₹149 crore.

Hindustan Petroleum: The company is planning to raise around ₹10,000 crore in debt from domestic or overseas markets to fund its oil refining and fuel marketing operations.

Stocks under F&O ban
IRCTC, Punjab National Bank, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Delta Corp are stocks banned in the F&O list on Friday.

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