Markets maintain upbeat trend in late afternoon session

Indian equity indices continue to maintain the upbeat trend in the final hours of trade, supported by positive global cues along with gains in realty, oil & gas and power sector stocks. Both the sensex and nifty were trading with around half a percent gain, while broader indices added around a percent. Though, there was some cautiousness too ahead of two-day meet of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The six-member MPC began its deliberations today amid expectations of at least 0.25 percent (25-basis point) cut in the policy rate to cushion the impact of demonetisation. RBI had cut policy rates by 25 basis points in its last meet in October. On the global front, European stocks were trading flat on Tuesday though Italian bank shares began to recover from a bruising start to the week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26481.89, up by 132.79 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 26393.99 and 26502.43. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.87%, while Small cap index was up by 0.81%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.97%, Oil & Gas up by 1.45%, Power up by 1.09%, PSU up by 0.96%, IT up by 0.87%, while FMCG down by 0.71% and Consumer Durables down by 0.51% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.23%, GAIL India up by 1.79%, NTPC up by 1.57%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.43% and Infosys up by 1.31%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.05%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.98%, Sun Pharma down by 0.61%, Power Grid down by 0.59% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, foreign investors have pulled out close to $6 billion from the Indian capital market in November amid concerns over the government's demonetisation decision coupled with fears of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve in December. 

According to exchange data, net withdrawal by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) from equity market stood at Rs 18,244 crore during November, whereas the same from the debt market was Rs 21,152 crore during the period under review, translating into total outflow of Rs 39,396 crore ($ 5.78 billion).

FPI outflows during the month came following withdrawal of more than Rs 10,306 crore from the capital market (equity and debt) during October. Prior to that, equity market had witnessed inflows of over Rs 20,000 crore. This year so far, FPIs have invested a net sum of Rs 28,742 crore in stocks, while they pulled out Rs 24,710 crore from the debt market, resulting in a combined net inflow of Rs 4,032 crore.

Domestic cash crunch following demonetisation drive to curb black money sparked intense selling pressure. The pull out by FPIs started in October 2016, on uncertainty over US election results and was felt across emerging markets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8167.40, up by 38.65 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 8148.45 and 8176.65. There were 36 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 3.35%, Tata Power up by 3.01%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.18%, Idea Cellular up by 2.13% and BPCL up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.33%, ITC down by 1.29%, Bosch down by 0.85%, Eicher Motors down by 0.79% and Power Grid down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite rose 1.17 points or 0.02% to 5,269.48, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 2.92 points or 0.18% to 1,627.89, KOSPI Index surged 26.5 points or 1.35% to 1,989.86, Nikkei 225 increased 85.55 points or 0.47% to 18,360.54, Taiwan Weighted climbed 90.11 points or 0.98% to 9,250.77 and Hang Seng was up by 169.6 points or 0.75% to 22,675.15, while Shanghai Composite decreased 5.06 points or 0.16% to 3,199.65.

All the European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 13.27 points or 0.2% to 6,733.56, Germany’s DAX decreased 1.93 points or 0.02% to 10,682.90 and France’s CAC was down by 1.83 points or 0.04% to 4,572.49.