Benchmarks continue to trade higher in tight range

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade in tight-band in afternoon deals with a gain of over half a percent. Sentiments remained up-beat on report that the government is hopeful about a substantial portion of pending legislative business being completed in the remaining three days of the Winter Session, where 18 bills are pending. Appreciation in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. The Indian rupee was trading higher at 66.32 in noon deals to the US dollar compared to its Friday’s close of 66.40 after exporters pressed sales in the US currency. However, gains remained capped up-to certain extent on uncertainty over the GST Bill continues following the standoff between the government and the Congress. The winter session of the parliament ends on December 23.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed at this point as traders remained concerned on continued weakness in the price of crude oil. Japanese Nikkei edged lower as stronger yen dampening investor sentiment. Continued disappointment over the lack of additional stimulus measures by the Bank of Japan also weighed on stocks. Back home, stocks related to infrastructure counter edged higher, as SEBI has said that in the case of initial public offerings, qualified institutional buyers can invest only up to 75 per cent in Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs). Aviation stocks like Spicejet and Jet Airways too remained in action on report that domestic airlines flew 73.22 lakh passengers in November this year recording a 24.65 per cent increase over the 58.74 lakh passengers carried during the same period in the previous year.

On the flip side, healthcare space witnessed selling, led by around six percent fall in Sun Pharma after the company has received a warning letter from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) post the September 2014 inspection of its facility located at Halol in Gujarat. The broader indices too were trading in line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,690 shares on the gaining side against 724 shares on the losing side while 168 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25656.41, up by 137.19 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 25413.54 and 25684.73. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.66%, while Small cap index up by 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.86%, PSU up by 1.24%, Bankex up by 1.08%, Power up by 0.96% and FMCG up by 0.93%, while Healthcare down by 0.67% and Consumer Durables down by 0.40% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.00%, ONGC up by 2.51%, Coal India up by 2.08%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.07% and ITC up by 1.92%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.72%, Asian Paints down by 0.82%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.67%, Reliance Industries down by 0.44% and HDFC Bank down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service describing India’s focus on Foreign direct Investment (FDI) as credit positive has said that the improvement in the external situation will also provide support to the rupee. Moody's Investors' Senior VP Rahul Ghosh has said that improvement in India's external accounts in recent quarters, coupled with the country's growth out performance against major emerging markets, should provide a measure of support to capital inflows.and, by extension, the rupee.

In the last month, the government has significantly liberalized the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime, putting most of the sectors on the automatic route. Ghosh further said that “If recent changes in the policy successfully shift the composition of foreign capital inflows towards foreign direct investment, it would lower capital account volatility, a credit positive.”

In the mid-year economic analysis 2015-16, the government said India's external position appears robust, with the current account deficit (CAD) at a comfortable 1.2 per cent of GDP. The net FDI inflows have grown to over $17 billion in April- September of the current fiscal from $15.8 billion in the same period last fiscal 2014-15. This is noteworthy against the background of uncertainty in other capital inflows.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7806.10, up by 44.15 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 7733.45 and 7816.35. There were 37 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.04%, ONGC up by 2.53%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.30%, Coal India up by 2.17% and Power Grid up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.66%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.80%, Asian Paints down by 0.69%, BPCL down by 0.61% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets exhibiting mixed trend; KOSPI Index increased 5.87 points or 0.3% to 1,981.19, Taiwan Weighted gained 24.85 points or 0.3% to 8,282.17, Shanghai Composite surged 62.54 points or 1.75% to 3,641.51 and Hang Seng was up by 71.04 points or 0.33% to 21,826.60. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 70.78 points or 0.37% to 18,916.02, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 15.89 points or 0.97% to 1,628.01 and Jakarta Composite was down by 1.12 points or 0.03% to 4,467.54.