Benchmarks trade jubilantly in late afternoon session

Indian benchmark indices gained momentum and were trading jubilantly in late afternoon session, on the back of value buying in FMCG, Consumer Durables, Metal and IT counters. Both, the Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their psychological levels 26,000 and 7,950 respectively. The Sentiments remained upbeat with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India now needs to move to a lower level of taxation to provide services more competitive in nature, as competition is not domestic; it is global and also said that extraordinary high taxation rates in the past have led to higher tax aversions. On the global front, European markets were trading slightly higher amid thin trading volumes during the holiday period in the region. Asian markets were also trading in green.

Back home, in scrip specific development, Shilpa Medicare edged higher as company raised around Rs 172.42 crore by allotting 30.25 lakh shares to Mauritius-based TA FII Investors and eClerx Services was trading in green after the company bought back 11.7 lakh shares for Rs 234 crore as a part of a share buyback offer, which began on November 28, 2016.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26010.10, up by 203.00 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 25803.19 and 26029.02. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.94%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.69%, Consumer Durables up by 1.64%, Metal up by 1.34%, IT up by 1.09% and TECK up by 0.95%, while Realty down by 0.56% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.62%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.24%, Tata Steel up by 1.92%, Lupin up by 1.77% and Cipla up by 1.69%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.79%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.40%, ONGC down by 0.26%, HDFC down by 0.20% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost cashless transactions in the country, all chief ministers of the country, including Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, have agreed on transferring government benefits to people's bank accounts directly from 2017. G S Sekhawat, Director of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has conducted a workshop on DBT with government officials and according to him they have agreed to adopt digital mode of transactions. He said that DBT would check corruption and increase transparency and accountability and that it would also save money in the state exchequers.

Sekhawat said that as per the plan, transactions in all departments under the state government will be made regularly in digital mode from January 1, 2017. He added that over Rs 36,000 crore of the government exchequer were saved in last two years for providing various payments and wages straightway to the beneficiaries under the DBT scheme. He also said that as many as 84 schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act being implemented by a host of central ministries and departments across the country, have been included in the DBT scheme.

The workshop was organised for all government departmental heads, drawing and disbursement officers and accounts officials to implement the online government payment. The workshop was attended by the principal secretary, finance and rural development of the state government, G S G Ayenger, and other top officials of the finance and other departments. The DBT scheme was launched in January 2013 in 43 districts in 16 states and all Union Territories. In the second phase it was extended to 78 more districts in July 2013. Currently, all districts of the countryare covered under this scheme.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7967.05, up by 58.80 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 7903.70 and 7974.85. There were 42 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 2.78%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.21%, Lupin up by 2.11%, Tata Steel up by 2.03% and Eicher Motors up by 1.86%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.31%, Indusind Bank down by 0.66%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.62%, Tata Power down by 0.54% and Idea Cellular down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.8 points or 0.17% to 1,619.95, KOSPI Index increased 4.42 points or 0.22% to 2,042.17, Nikkei 225 increased 6.42 points or 0.03% to 19,403.06 and Jakarta Composite increased 72.73 points or 1.45% to 5,100.51. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 7.9 points or 0.25% to 3,114.66 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 1.27 points or 0.01% to 9,109.27.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 7.99 points or 0.17% to 4,847.67 and Germany’s DAX increased 24.11 points or 0.21% to 11,474.04.

UK stock exchange was closed on account of Christmas holiday.