Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in green in afternoon session, supported by gains in Realty, IT, Banking and FMCG sector stocks. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 26,750 and 8,250 levels respectively. Sentiments got some support with CBEC Chairman Najib Shah’s statement that the GST Council may in future decide to reduce the tax slabs under the Goods and Services Tax regime after analysing the revenue garnered and the compensation payouts to states. Meanwhile, in a step ahead to achieve the government’s dream of a cashless society in the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has unveiled slew of incentives that include discounts for payments made digitally for fuel, insurance, toll and rail travel. The move follows a month after government demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in order to curb corruption. In scrip specific development, ONGC rose around four percent after crude prices rallied 2 percent overnight.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after recent strong gains and despite the record highs overnight on Wall Street following the European Central Bank's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26771.03, up by 76.75 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 26707.81 and 26803.76. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.18%, IT up by 0.91%, Bankex up by 0.83%, FMCG up by 0.79% and TECK up by 0.68%, while Auto down by 0.51%, Metal down by 0.48%, Capital Goods down by 0.11% and Power down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.12%, SBI up by 1.71%, ICICI Bank up by 1.53%, ONGC up by 1.31% and Infosys up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.87%, Coal India down by 1.28%, HDFC down by 1.22%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.09% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a step ahead to achieve the government’s dream of a cashless society in the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has unveiled slew of incentives that include discounts for payments made digitally for fuel, insurance, toll and rail travel. The move follows a month after government demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in order to curb corruption.

Announcing 11 decisions to promote digital transaction, Jaitley said that a discount of 0.75% will be offered for those who purchase petrol and diesel through digital mode. Moreover, public sector insurance companies, general and life insurance, will provide 10% and 8% discount for buying new policy or paying premium online via PSUs websites.

He also stated that monthly and seasonal suburban railway tickets purchased through digital mode will get 0.5% discount from January 1. He added that those who make online payment for railway tickets will be given free accident claim insurance worth Rs 10 lakh. In addition, those using digital mode to pay for railway catering, accommodation, retiring room will be entitled to discount of 5 per cent.

The minister further said that those who use RFID cards and fast tags can get a discount of 10% at toll plazas on national highways. Jaitley also said that public dealings with government departments and PSUs through digital mode will be free of transaction fee and MDR charges. Also credit/debit card transactions up to Rs 2,000 will be exempt from service tax.

To expand the digital payment infrastructure in rural areas, the Centre through NABARD will extend financial support to eligible banks for deploying two POS (point of sale) devices free of cost each in 1 lakh villages with population of less than 10,000.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8265.45, up by 18.60 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 8241.95 and 8274.95. There were 30 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 2.06%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.02%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.99%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.88% and SBI up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.36%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.05%, Bosch down by 1.68%, Eicher Motors down by 1.63% and HDFC down by 1.53% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 111.59 points or 0.49% to 22,750.25, Jakarta Composite declined 14.58 points or 0.27% to 5,289.16, KOSPI Index shed 6.38 points or 0.31% to 2,024.69 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.24 points or 0.26% to 1,639.51. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 16.25 points or 0.51% to 3,231.62, Taiwan Weighted added 16.82 points or 0.18% to 9,392.68 and Nikkei 225 gained 230.9 points or 1.23% to 18,996.37.