Key benchmark indices firmed up once again in afternoon trade. Gains were capped as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) lowered India's growth forecast. At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 67.61 points or 0.17% at 40,307.49. The Nifty 50 index was up 12.60 points or 0.11% at 11,869.40.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.06%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.08%.

The market breadth favored the sellers. On the BSE, 844 shares rose and 1404 shares fell. A total of 193 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 25 stocks advanced while 25 stocks declined.

Economy:

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday announced it trimmed its forecasts for economic growth in developing Asia this year and next year as growth in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and India is weighed down by both external and domestic factors.

India's growth is now seen at a slower 5.1% in fiscal year 2019 as the foundering of a major non-banking financial company in 2018 led to a rise in risk aversion in the financial sector and a credit crunch. Also, consumption was affected by slow job growth and rural distress aggravated by a poor harvest. Growth should pick up to 6.5% in fiscal year 2020 with supportive policies. In September, ADB forecast India's GDP to grow 6.5% in 2019 and 7.2% in 2020.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index was down 0.13% to 7,791.10, sliding 0.91% in two sessions.

Hero MotoCorp (down 2.12%), Tata Motors (down 1.06%), Ashok Leyland (down 1.04%), Escorts (down 0.71%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.62%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (down 0.14%) declined.

Eicher Motors (up 0.63%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.47%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.25%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Yes Bank slumped 15.43% to Rs 42.75. The bank said its board is willing to favourably consider the offer of $500 million of Citax Holdings and Citax Investment Group and the final decision regarding allotment to follow in the next board meeting, subject to requisite regulatory approvals. The binding offer of $1.2 billion submitted by Erwin Singh Braich / SPGP Holdings also continues to be under discussion. The bank shall continue to evaluate other potential investors to raise capital upto $2 billion.

Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.41% to Rs 1555.85. RIL said it has signed a Framework Agreement with The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to explore development of an Ethylene Dichloride facility in Ruwais. Under the terms of the agreement, ADNOC would supply ethylene to the potential joint venture and provide access to world-class infrastructure at Ruwais, while RIL will deliver operational expertise and entry to the large and growing Indian vinyls market, in which it is a key participant.

Bharti Airtel fell 0.62% to Rs 444.30. The telecom company said it will seek approval of its shareholders to raise capital through qualified institutional placement (QIP), foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) and non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on 3 January. It plans to raise $3 billion via debt and equity shares or convertible instruments.

Wipro shed 0.42% to Rs 237.15. Wipro and the Ministry of Technology and Communications (MTC), a government authority of the Sultanate of Oman, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch a Center of Excellence (CoE) for open source. Under this MoU, Wipro and MTC will collaborate to build, deploy and sustain the CoE as well as accelerate adoption of open source technologies in thc public and private sectors of Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

Foreign Markets:

Shares in Europe opened mostly higher while stock markets in Asia were mixed on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due later in the day stateside.

Investors awaited the Fed's final interest rate decision for the year with expectations that the central bank will keep the rate on hold.

Further, developments on U.S.-China trade will be watched as Sunday inches closer, when more tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. are set to kick in. That comes as markets have been expecting a phase one trade deal to be reached between Washington and Beijing.

As per reports, the U.S. plans to delay slapping China with additional tariffs as both sides try to work out the agreement.

U.S. negotiators have also asked Chinese officials to commit to some agricultural purchases upfront before moving forward with a deal, the report added. Meanwhile, China wants its agricultural purchases to be proportional with the amount of tariffs the U.S. rolls back. The U.S. is also reportedly pushing for a quarterly review of the promised purchases.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's oil company Aramco is listed and started trading on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange on Wednesday for the first time after a mammoth $25.6 billion initial public offering that set the record as the biggest ever in history.

The state-owned company had announced a sale of 1.5% of its total shares at 32 Saudi riyals each, or $8.53.

In August 2019, Saudi Aramco signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire a 20% stake in the oil to chemicals division of Reliance Industries valued at an enterprise value of $75 billion.

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