Stock market today: Indian shares on Monday, November 20, finished on a subdued note amid minor losses in financial stocks as investors assessed the impact of the central bank's tighter rules for personal loans on lenders as well as FMCG stocks. Domestic blue-chip indexes Nifty 50 and Sensex edged lower after opening flat. The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.19 per cent lower at 19,694, while the S&P BSE Sensex ended at 65,655.15, down 139.58 points or 0.21 per cent.

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The heavy-weight bank index—Nifty Bank—ended flat at 43,584.95, while the Nifty Financial index ended 0.18 per cent lower at 19,518.6. The Nifty smallcap 100 outperformed the benchmarks, finishing 0.11 per cent higher at 41,856.45, whereas the Nifty midcap 100 ended flat at 13,872.8, down 0.7 per cent. Information technology stocks extended the winning streak, rising 0.6 per cent to end at 32,383.2.

"Elevated long-term interest rate trends and a weakening global economy continue to hurt inflows and market movement. While the recent softening of inflation in the US and India and the negative trend of crude are expected to help the view on global equity and India in the short term. In that context, the ease in FIIs selling is helping the domestic markets but continues to consolidate primarily due to India's premium valuation relative to global peers. In this scenario, the IT sector is benefiting; however, valuation continues to be on the higher side compared to long-term history, suggesting a cautious approach in the sector in the medium term," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Meanwhile, investors await the minutes of the US Federal Reserve's last meeting, due this week, for more cues on interest rate trajectory.

Global Market Update

Global Market European shares were lacklustre on Monday after a strong week driven by aggressive bets on interest rate cuts, while gains in energy stocks were offset by weak healthcare as German drugs-to-pesticides group Bayer slid to a 12-year low.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was little changed by 1:40 p.m. after jumping nearly 3 per cent last week and was on track to log its first monthly gain since August. As investors started pricing in 100-basis-point rate cuts for 2024, with the first one seen as soon as April, European Central Bank officials shunned market optimism, flagging still-high inflation and a somewhat resilient economy. Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite futures indicate a sluggish start ahead on Wall Street.

With inputs from agencies