Indian equity markets plummeted, erasing four weeks of gains, with the Sensex falling nearly 5%, while 22 smallcaps delivered double-digit returns, led by Fairchem Organics with 49% returns. Only General Insurance Corp rose in double digits in the midcap segment, and Sun Pharma was the least affected among Sensex stocks.

With December so far delivering Scrooge-like returns in an otherwise stellar year for U.S. stocks, investors hope the tail end of 2024 offers some holiday cheer, but warn of potential headwinds. The benchmark S&P 500 is up more than 23% for 2024, even after a major stumble this week, and Wall Street has historically often enjoyed a strong annual close.

Oil prices settled little changed on Friday as markets weighed Chinese demand and interest rate-cut expectations after data showed cooling U.S. inflation. Brent crude futures closed up 6 cents, or 0.08%, at $72.94 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 8 cents, or 0.12%, at $69.46 per barrel. Both benchmarks ended the week down about 2.5%.

Indian Oil Corporation's board has approved a ₹4,382.21 crore joint venture with MCPI Private Ltd to set up a yarn project in Odisha, with Indian Oil's equity contribution amounting to ₹657.33 crore. The project includes a 900 TPD continuous polymerization unit and downstream units for various yarn products.

Novo Nordisk's new obesity drug CagriSema helped patients lose 22.7% of their weight in a late-stage trial, falling short of the expected 25% result, causing the company's share price to drop 19.5% to its lowest since August 2023. Reuters quoted Novo Nordisk as saying on Friday, adding the results were 25 percent they had expected.

The board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may well have refused to clear the SEBI (Prohibition of Unexplained Suspicious Trading Activities in the Securities Market) Regulations at its meeting earlier this week, but that is not the end of the story for the much-feared and tough set of rules to act against wrongdoers and offenders.

Standard Capital Markets Limited, a prominent NBFC, informed that the Board of Directors of the Company in its meeting held and approved the allotment of 1,500 unrated, unlisted, secured NCDs, of face value of Rs 1,00,000 each at an issue price of Rs 1,00,000 each aggregating to Rs 15,00,00,000 on Private Placement basis in terms of Private placement cum application letter.

Shares of Torrent Power Ltd. fell as much as 11.6% on Friday, marking their biggest single-day fall in three years. The stock eventually ended with losses of close to 10%. The stock has declined in five out of the last six trading sessions. The stock was a part of the FTSE Index rejig, which took place towards the close of trade on Friday.

💰Top Gainers: Aegis Logis (up 9.45%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 6.63%), Mtar Technologies (up 5.45%), The New India Assurance Company (up 4.60%), Data Patterns India (up 3.61%). 💰Top Losers: Torrent Power (down 8.55%), RBL Bank (down 7.09%), Balrampur Chini Mills (down 6.73%), LTI Mindtree (down 6.71%), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (down 6.13%).

The Indian rupee slipped to an all-time low of 85.10 before closing at 85.0150 against the US dollar, up from the previous session, aided by likely dollar inflows and Reserve Bank of India intervention. The currency declined 0.2% week-on-week, its seventh straight weekly loss, amid concerns over India's slowing economic growth and a hawkish Federal Reserve policy outlook.

Shilpa Medicare Ltd announced on Friday, Dec 20, that the company has secured a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification from a European Union (EU) agency for its unit in Telangana. The pharmaceutical company has been awarded the GMP certification following the successful closure of an inspection conducted by European Medicines Agency (EMA), Austria, at its Unit 7, Nacharam in Hyderabad.

Real money gaming firms-backed Skill Online Games Institute (SOGI) has demanded that the government levy 28 per cent GST on platform fees instead of on deposits for gaming companies in India, to prevent offshore platforms from taking advantage of significant tax arbitrage. The demand comes ahead of the 55th meeting of the GST Council in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, on Saturday.

Indian equities have outperformed US markets, with ₹100 invested in India in 1990 growing to ₹9,500 by November 2024, while the same investment in the US would have reached ₹8,400, according to a Motilal Oswal report. Indian equity markets have delivered impressive returns, growing investments nearly 95 times since 1990.

Stablecoin market capitalization has surged to $205 billion, with $13.5 billion locked on Ethereum layer 2 networks, indicating growing demand for cryptocurrencies. As of Dec. 20, the Ethereum blockchain held $13.5 billion worth of stablecoins, according to data from Tie Terminal, a crypto data platform for institutions and Cointelegraph Markets Pro.

IPO-bound InCred Finance, the consumer and MSME lending arm of the InCred Group, has appointed Gaurav Maheshwari as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective December 16.The strategic move comes as the KKR-backed NBFC gears up for its anticipated public listing next year, aiming to raise between Rs 4,000 crore and 5,000 crore at a valuation of Rs 15,000 to 22,500 crore.