Markets continue to trade in green in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in early noon session, as investors purchase the battered blue chips at attractive valuations. Sentiment got up beat with the report of World Bank that the India will continue to be the bright spot of the global economy and is projected to grow at a robust 7.8 percent in fiscal 2016-17, more than a percentage point higher than China’s. Besides rupee recovered against dollar on increasing US currency’s selling by exporters and banks, that too supporting the markets. At present, both the sensex and Nifty were trading above their crucial 24,900 and 7,550 levels, respectively.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after China suspended its market circuit breaker and set a firmer midpoint rate for trading of the yuan for the first time in nine days. Back home, The broader markets were outperforming the larger peers with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices trading up by 0.70% and 0.87%, respectively. In scrip specific development, share of Tech Mahindra was trading higher after the software firm entered into a strategic alliance with US-based MetricStream to deliver governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions across the globe.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24928.63, up by 76.80 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 24887.22 and 25083.55. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.77%, while Small cap index up by 0.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.17%, Oil & Gas up by 1.06%, Realty up by 1.03%, IT up by 0.91% and TECK up by 0.83%, while Metal down by 0.99% and Capital Goods down by 0.57% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.60%, Tata Motors up by 1.59%, Reliance Industries up by 1.39%, TCS up by 1.15% and GAIL India up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.54%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.11%, Cipla down by 2.04%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.62% and Adani Ports &Special down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has said that the Modi government has agreed to accept the demands raised by the opposition congress Party, to pass key reform goods and services tax (GST) Bill, raising hopes that a political standoff that blocked the measure throughout last year might be resolved. Further he said that the government is ready to start the upcoming Parliament session earlier than scheduled to pass the bill in the Rajya Sabha if the Congress is willing to support it.

With a view to discuss and seek support for the passage of key reforms in the upcoming budget session of Parliament, Naidu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi, however, didn't assure him of her party's support and said that they will discuss among themselves and take a final decision.

In order to garner the Opposition's support for the passage of the GST Bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also met his predecessor Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in early December. But his efforts were in vain as the winter session of Parliament got washed out following a controversy in the National Herald case in which Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi faced allegations of illegal acquisition of property worth Rs 5,000 crore.

The GST bill which aims to replace a string of central and local levies such as excise and octroi with a single tax is a key constituent of the government’s reform agenda that has run into rough weather in Parliament. The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has opposed what it calls the 'flawed' version now before Parliament, where it has been able to block a key constitutional enabling amendment in the upper house.  It wants the Government to cap the GST rate at less than 20 per cent, scrap a proposed state levy and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between States.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7592.60, up by 24.30 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 7581.05 and 7634.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 2.11%, Tata Power up by 1.81%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.74%, ITC up by 1.63% and BPCL up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.56%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.26%, Cipla down by 1.80%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.65% and ACC down by 1.37% were the top losers. Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.84 points or 0.23% to 1,658.97, KOSPI Index increased 12.64 points or 0.66% to 1,916.97, Taiwan Weighted increased 41.91 points or 0.53% to 7,893.97, Shanghai Composite increased 100.03 points or 3.2% to 3,225.04 and Hang Seng increased 231.9 points or 1.14% to 20,565.24, while Nikkei 225 decreased 53.47 points or 0.3% to 17,713.87 and Jakarta Composite decreased 9.77 points or 0.22% to 4,520.68.