Indian benchmark indices trade in fine fettle

Indian benchmark indices gained momentum and are trading in fine fettle in late afternoon session, ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting that starts later in the day. Investors will closely look at the Fed's statement on future action given fears that aggressive rate hikes could spark outflows from emerging markets to the United States. Such an outcome could hit Indian shares given that markets are already under pressure over worries that demonetisation would hurt the economy bigger than expected. On the global front, Asian stock markets were mostly in green with Japan outperforming as the Yen fell ahead of the FOMC announcement. In scrip specific development Tata Motors shares jumped after an unnamed buyer bought a stake at a premium.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26667.94, up by 152.70 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 26494.23 and 26709.76. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were underperforming the benchmarks, trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.58%, while Small cap index was down by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.88%, FMCG up by 0.67%, Oil & Gas up by 0.61%, IT up by 0.41%, TECK up by 0.32% while, Realty down by 1.27%, Metal down by 1.00%, Consumer Durables down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.40%, Wipro up by 1.89%, ITC up by 1.38%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.28% and HDFC up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 0.93%, GAIL India down by 0.87%, Tata Steel down by 0.80%, Asian Paints down by 0.58% and NTPC down by 0.33% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a committee, headed by former finance secretary Ratan Watal set up to convert government-citizen transactions to digital platform, has suggested a 30-90 days’ timeline for implementing a number of measures that it hopes can cut in half India’s cash usage from 12% of GDP in three years. If the government accepts the proposal of the panel then citizens may possibly be charged for cash usage, however it will also smooth the transactions as people can make the payments easily using mobiles and Aadhaar-based systems.

The committee in its recommendation has said that the situation needs to be reviewed from the perspective of an ordinary Indian - Why Digital? For all its inefficiencies, cash offers instant settlement, 24x7 up-time, familiarity and an illusion of zero transaction cost. The committee has recommended an independent mechanism within the overall central banking structure and amendments in the payments and settlement laws and disincentive for cash usage among host of other measures to help shift towards a less cash society.

Watal committee called for inter-operable payments between bank and non-banks as well as within non-banks and pitched for greater use of Aadhaar and mobile numbers for making digital payments as easy as cash. As the government has been pitching for a less-cash economy after it demonetised old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, keeping this in mind the committee has suggested, operations of payment systems like Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transafer (NEFT) could be outsourced after a cost benefit analysis and these payment systems should be upgraded to 24x7 in due course of time.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8203.90, up by 33.10 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 8155.80 and 8210.90. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.44%, Wipro up by 2.04%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.93% ,  BPCL up by 1.78% and ITC up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.77%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.71%, Hindalco down by 2.47%, Grasim Industries down by 1.58% and BHEL down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite gained 2.07 points or 0.07% to 3,155.04 , FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.86 points or 0.24% to 1,645.28 , KOSPI Index was up by 8.74 points or 0.43% to 2,035.98, Hang Seng increased 13.68 points or 0.06% to 22,446.70, Taiwan Weighted increased 32.2 points or 0.34% to 9,382.14, Nikkei 225 increased 95.49 points or 0.5% to 19,250.52. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 14.51 points or 0.27% to 5,293.62.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 15.47 points or 0.22% to 6,905.89 , France’s CAC increased 17.75 points or 0.37% to 4,778.52  and Germany’s DAX increased 46.94 points or 0.42% to 11,237.15.