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Weekly Update Market Wrap

Markets Under Pressure: Rupee, FPIs & Global Signals Shape the Week

A sharp weekly snapshot of Indian markets as the rupee slips past ₹91, FPIs stay cautious, inflation firms up, and global central banks tighten the macro equation.

6 min read   |   19-Dec-2025   |   Last Updated: 24 Dec 2025
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Written by: SERNET Research Team

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Table of Content

Weekly Capsule (Dec 15 – Dec 19) and Impact Analysis

        News Announcement            Impact Analysis 
   
  • November 2025 merchandise trade deficit narrows to $24.53 billion 
  • While the imports were almost stagnant for the month, the exports surged sharply, despite US tariff pressures 
  • The strong services surplus momentum meant that overall deficit for the month was comfortable at just $6.6 billion 

 

  • Indian rupee continued to weaken during the week, crossing ₹91/$ 
  • Rupee weakened amidst FPI selling, delays in Indo-US trade deal, NDF market selling, and surge in hedging pressures 
  • A lot will now depend on the level at which the RBI intervenes to defend the rupee and the aggression that RBI deploys 

 

  • FPIs were net sellers in Indian equities to the tune of $1.96 billion in H1-Dec25 
  • The selling was most pronounced in sectors like BFSI, IT, Healthcare, FMCG, capital goods and telecom 
  • FPI buying was quite sporadic and was largely concentrated in sectors like oil & gas and the metals & mining sectors 

 

  • WPI inflation for November hardened from -1.21% to -0.32% 
  • The bounce in WPI inflation is almost in sync with consumer inflation, which also bounced from 0.25% to 0.71% 
  • The good news for Indian industry is that the manufacturing WPI with 64.2% weightage is decisively lower at 1.33% 

 

  • Bank of Japan hikes benchmark rates by 25 basis points to the level of 0.75% 
  • This hike, under BOJ governor Ueda, takes Japanese interest rates to the highest level seen since the year 1995 
  • There are concerns in the market that the sudden hardening of the Yen could resulting in unwinding of carry trades 

 

  • RBI MPC minutes express concerns over rupee and imported inflation 
  • The rate cut has weakened the rupee in the last 2 weeks, but that was the risk that the MPC has taken consciously 
  • While there has been consensus on the December rate cut, further rate cuts would be a lot more deliberated 

 

  • Adani Airports plans to invest ₹1 trillion by the year 2030, ahead of its IPO 
  • Adani Airports Ltd operates the current Mumbai airport as well as the proposed airport coming up soon in Navi Mumbai 
  • Adani Airports has indicated that the airports business may be hived off from Adani Enterprises ahead of its upcoming IPO 

 

  • Finance Minister indicated that debt reduction will be the focus from FY27 
  • That is, probably, a signal that the overall fiscal deficit and the debt levels could spiral slightly off targets in FY26 
  • That was not entirely unexpected as India has been trying hard to boost domestic growth amid global import tariffs 

 

  • L Catterton India, the PE fund, has picked up a stake in Haldiram 
  • This makes L Catterton the fourth institutional investor in Haldiram, with Temasek investing over $1 billion in Haldiram 
  • The Temasek deal has valued Haldiram at $10 billion, while Catterton brings its deep consumer insights to Haldiram 

 

  • Jefferies has initiated a buy call on Groww with 26% upside target 
  • According to Jefferies, the next big growth surge for Groww would come from lending and wealth management verticals 
  • Groww holds more than ₹1.10 trillion for customers in MFs and that can be leveraged for more revenue generation 

 

  • Meesho saw a price correction on Friday, after doubling from its IPO price 
  • UBS appears to be very positive on Meesho, even calling it a cash generating powerhouse through hefty ad margins 
  • Meesho, unlike the other ecommerce platforms, is more into Tier-2 cities and also has a lower price offering on average 

 

  • Piramal Finance to sell ₹600 crore stake in Shriram Life Insurance to Sanlam 
  • Piramal Finance is looking to monetize non-core assets, giving 38% stake in Shriram Life Insurance to Sanlam 
  • Post the deal, Sanlam’s stake of 38% in Shriram Life Insurance will be second only to Shriram Finance’s 47% stake 

 

  • Ather Energy plans to foray into auto insurance selling via corporate agency 
  • This move is aimed at boosting its margins and making a full offering, with focus on EV-specific insurance products 
  • EVs are a recent and unique offering and the idea is to package insurance as an adjunct in a more customized way 

 

  • Adani Group outlines plans to set up a nuclear plant in state of Uttar Pradesh 
  • The total nuclear capacity of this plant will be 1,600 MW, divided into 8 small modular reactors of 200 MW each 
  • India is likely to see a massive expansion in power demand, largely led by power-intensive AI related activities 

 

  • MUFG of Japan has finalized investing ₹39,618 crore into Shriram Finance 
  • The deal will be through a preferential issue of shares, which will give MUFG of Japan 20% stake in Shriram Finance 
  • The stake dilution will happen through the issue of fresh shares, so the capital infusion will help expand the book 

 

  • AMC stocks surged during the week on higher cap set by SEBI for AMC charges 
  • The original proposal was to cut brokerage fees from MF clients to 2 bps, which has now been raised to 6 bps 
  • Many mutual funds had protested that such a sharp cut in the brokerage rates would impact the quality of research inputs 

 

  • Reliance Consumer acquired Udhaiyam Agro to consolidate its South food play  
  • Udhaiyam is a big player in the food segment in South India; and competes with TCPL, Orkla India, and ID India 
  • The transaction is estimated at ₹668 crore, and the brand is very popular for its nutrition-based food products 

 

  • Users have to get ready for higher telecom tariffs in the new year 
  • The price hikes are likely to be across Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea, with an average hike in tariffs of around 20% 
  • Telecom companies are now trying to monetize the customer base and also recoup some of the investments made in 5G 

 

  • US CPI inflation came in lower at 2.7%, but core inflation fell to 2.6% 
  • This data point has to be seen in consonance with the spike in the rate of unemployment to 4.6% in November 2025 
  • The higher rate of unemployment and the lower consumer inflation in the US make a strong case for more Fed rate cuts 

 

  • ICICI Pru AMC becomes the fourth most heavily subscribed IPO in India 
  • ICICI Pru ranks behind Reliance Power, Hyundai India, and Bajaj Housing Finance in terms of investor interest 
  • While ICICI Pru saw investor interest of ₹2.99 trillion, Reliance Power at ₹7.18 trillion still holds the record for last 18 years 

 

  • The IPO of KSH International got just 87% subscriptions at close of the IPO 
  • While the HNI / NII subscription was 44%, retail was 91%, with only the QIB portion at 1.12X, helping the IPO sail through 
  • Unlike other IPOs, the stock did not manage to attract heavy HNI and QIB interest on the last day of the IPO 

 

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