Benchmarks continue to trade in fine fettle

Indian equity benchmarks were trading in fine fettle in late afternoon session ahead of the expiry of December future & options contracts due today. Sentiments remained positive as value buying was witnessed in Consumer Durables, IT and Oil & Gas counters. There was some buzz in the market with report that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas. The rupee strengthened against the US dollar tracking the gains in Asian currencies markets.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as the light Christmas trading period continues. Asian markets were trading mixed, led by a slump in Japan, as the Yen rose across the board. The weakness in Asia followed a decline on Wall Street yesterday set off by disappointing U.S. data that sent the USD into retreat.

Back home, in scrip specific development, Phoenix Mills edged higher after company acquired 8.72% equity stake in Island Star Mall Developers (ISMDPL) from Pinnacle Real Estate Development (PREDPL) on December 28, 2016. Subsequent to the aforesaid acquisition, the direct equity stake of the company in ISMDPL has increased from 91.28% to 100%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26260.82, up by 50.14 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 26166.67 and 26429.63. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.72%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.19%, IT up by 0.82%, TECK up by 0.74%, Oil & Gas up by 0.71% and Power up by 0.57%, while Capital Goods down by 0.45% were the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.33%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.09%, Wipro up by 0.99%, HDFC up by 0.94% and NTPC up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.44%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.12%, ITC down by 0.70%, Sun Pharma down by 0.66% and SBI down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, two days before the cut-off date for depositing demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the union cabinet has approved an ordinance to impose penalties on those who will hold the scrapped 500 and 1,000 rupee notes beyond March 31, 2017. The ordinance will come into force once the president gives his assent but it will have to be passed by parliament within six months.

The ordinance, named as 'The Specified Bank Notes Cessation of Liabilities Ordinance', is to extinguish liability of the government and the central bank on the demonetised high-denomination notes to prevent future litigations. Cases were filed in courts across the country questioning the government’s power to cull currency by an executive decision. The banned notes can be deposited in banks till December 30 and thereafter at select RBI counters till March 31 next year.

The Ordinance makes holding of old 1,000 and 500 rupee notes after March 31 beyond a threshold amount a criminal offence that will attract a monetary fine of Rs 10,000 or five times the cash held, whichever is higher as well as could also attract a jail term and furnishing wrong information while depositing the old currency between January 1 and March 31 will attract a fine of Rs 5,000 or five times the amount. A maximum of 10 banned notes may be allowed to be held by any person.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8060.25, up by 25.40 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 8020.80 and 8066.40. There were 37 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.08%, BPCL up by 1.67%, Bosch up by 1.52%, HCL Tech. up by 1.46% and TCS up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.66%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.04%, ITC down by 0.70%, Sun Pharma down by 0.67% and SBI down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI Index increased 1.97 points or 0.1% to 2,026.46, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.27 points or 0.38% to 1,636.57, Hang Seng increased 36.17 points or 0.17% to 21,790.91 and Jakarta Composite increased 87.15 points or 1.67% to 5,296.60. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 256.58 points or 1.32% to 19,145.14, Taiwan Weighted decreased 48.31 points or 0.53% to 9,153.09 and Shanghai Composite decreased 6.14 points or 0.2% to 3,096.10.

All European Markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 46.23 points or 0.4% to 11,428.76, France’s CAC decreased 21.63 points or 0.45% to 4,826.38 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 17.76 points or 0.25% to 7,088.32.