Markets recover from day’s low; Sensex above 26,000 mark

Indian equity benchmarks, recovering from day's low, were trading in positive territory, albeit with slender gains due to increased buying in select stocks coupled with covering-up of pending short-positions ahead of November month F&O expiry tomorrow. Besides, a firm trend in the Asian markets following a record close on the Wall Street too influenced the trading sentiment. Investors got some confidence with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that banks are integrating their information technology system with RBI and GST Network as they prepare to handle tax deposits under the new indirect tax regime. Some support also came with Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh’s assurance that sowing of rabi crops like wheat, pulses and oilseeds has not been affected due to banning of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Highlighting various steps taken to ease cash flow to farmers, the minister said farmers are allowed to buy seeds with old Rs 500 notes at government outlets as well as from agri varsities. He also said sowing area of wheat, pulses and oilseeds has been higher till November 18 of this rabi season compared with the year-ago period. However, market participants adopting cautious approach, while entering into market as rupee opened weakest since February and was trading at fresh nine month low, down 20 paise at 68.45 on market volatility and gaining US Dollar. Also On Tuesday, foreign institutional investors were net sellers with net equity sell value of Rs 692.85 crore, provisional data available with BSE suggested.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Wednesday as investors tried to share in the exuberance of Wall Street’s record run, while high US bond yields kept the dollar well underpinned. US stocks extended their post-US election rally on Tuesday with moderate gains that pushed the Dow above 19,000 and the three major indices to record closing levels for a second straight day.

Back home, stocks from Metal, Capital Goods and Realty counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Oil & Gas counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Wockhardt slipped after the company’s step down subsidiary - CP Pharmaceuticals, Wrexham, United Kingdom, has been issued a Warning Letter by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). On the other hand, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) surged after the company reported 84% year on year growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,435 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1487 shares on the gaining side against 674 shares on the losing side, while 139 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26034.14, up by 73.36 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 25877.16 and 26130.49. 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 0.62%, while Small cap index up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.13%, Capital Goods up by 1.79%, Realty up by 1.32%, Consumer Durables up by 0.74% and Auto up by 0.40%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.27% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.38%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.17%, Tata Steel up by 2.35%, Lupin up by 1.73% and NTPC up by 1.60%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.56%, Power Grid down by 1.52%, Wipro down by 1.31%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.82% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the larger debate on pros and cons of demonetization, IT industry body NASSCOM has said that Indian IT industry would benefit in a big way due to the demonetisation drive if it is able to adapt to changed scenario and to adapt itself to the solutions that are required.

Nasscom Chairman C P Gurnani said the IT industry body wants to discuss with the Government on how it can contribute to achieving aims behind the drive in terms of solutions and applications, as in lot of areas, the need for data analytics, the need for mass availability of applications can be readily used in a multi-lingual environment.

Nasscom would deliberate on how to re-energise the industry at a meeting in Bhubaneswar in the coming week. The industry body had recently downgraded the growth prospects for India’s IT exports this year to a range of 8 per cent to 10 per cent, from its earlier forecast of 10 per cent to 12 per cent, citing uncertainties arising from growing anti-globalisation rhetoric in the developed world

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8021.55, up by 19.25 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 7973.10 and 8055.20. There were 31 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.14%, Asian Paints up by 3.27%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.08%, Tata Steel up by 2.43% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.39%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.00%, HDFC down by 1.82%, Wipro down by 1.50%, Power Grid down by 1.41% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.29%, Shanghai Composite gained 0.13%, Taiwan Weighted rose 0.49% and Hang Seng was up by 0.09%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.23% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.31%.