Markets continue to trade in green in noon session

Benchmark equity indices continued to trade in green in noon session led by gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as Adani Ports & SEZ, HDFC, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra among others. Sentiments remained up-beat on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will ease its key lending rates when the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank meets for the first time since the decision of demonetization. Some support also came after Fitch Ratings said that there is scope for monetary easing in India as retail inflation is holding below the 5 percent target. Fitch said that inflation of 4.2 percent in October 2016 was below the intermediate target of 5 percent by March 2017 and within the medium-term target range of 4 percent (+/-) 2 percent. In scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India rose after cutting their lending rates. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 26,400 and 8,150 levels respectively.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as investors covered short positions and looked to the upcoming policy meeting of the European Central Bank for comfort after a referendum defeat tipped Italy into political turmoil.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26433.87, up by 41.11 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 26408.77 and 26469.93. 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 0.33%, while Small cap index gained 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.93%, Auto up by 0.83%, PSU up by 0.79%, Bankex up by 0.56% and Realty up by 0.42%, while IT down by 0.54%, TECK down by 0.46% and FMCG down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &Special up by 1.91%, HDFC up by 1.75%, Tata Motors up by 1.14%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.09% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 4.25%, TCS down by 0.98%, Lupin down by 0.70%, Infosys down by 0.54% and Tata Steel down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost online cashless payments using credit and debit cards, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed norms for additional factor of authentication (AFA) requirement for transactions up to Rs 2,000 for online CNP (card not present) transactions. RBI relaxed two-factor authentication for online payments below Rs 2,000 and stated that only authorised card networks shall provide such payment authentication solutions with participation of card issuing and acquiring banks.

As per the latest circular from RBI, an alternate solution, provided by authorised card networks is expected to meet the objective of customer convenience with sufficient security for low value transactions. In this model, the card-issuing banks will offer the payment authentication solutions of the respective card networks to their customers on an optional basis.

Customers opting for this facility will go through a one-time registration process requiring entry of card details and AFA by the issuing bank. Thereafter, the registered customers will not be required to re-enter the card details for every transaction at merchant locations that offer this solution and thereby save time and effort.  In this model, the card details already registered would be the first factor while the credentials used to login to the solution (as confirmed by the card network providing the solution) would be the additional factor of authentication.

Further, in the interest of customer awareness and protection, RBI said that the banks and authorized card networks offering such solutions will bear the full liability in the event of any security breach or compromise in the authorized card network. It added that banks and card networks are free to facilitate their customers to set lower per transaction limits.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8161.10, up by 17.95 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 8149.90 and 8170.70. There were 30 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 2.63%, BPCL up by 2.04%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.02%, Idea Cellular up by 1.88% and HDFC up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 4.26%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.80%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.17%, TCS down by 0.77% and Lupin down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2 points or 0.12% to 1,631.73, KOSPI Index was up by 2.03 points or 0.1% to 1,991.89, Taiwan Weighted added 13.12 points or 0.14% to 9,263.89, Shanghai Composite increased 16.1 points or 0.5% to 3,215.75, Hang Seng gained 98.57 points or 0.43% to 22,773.72 and Nikkei 225 was up by 136.15 points or 0.74% to 18,496.69. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 34.51 points or 0.65% to 5,238.45.