Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals; Sensex recaptures 27,000 mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Friday, with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 27,000 (Sensex) and 8,300 (Nifty) levels, for the first time since November 11. Traders took some encouragement with the report of Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that India appears to be much better placed with improved macro-economic fundamentals, as measures to eliminate shadow economy and tax evasion are expected to have positive impact on GDP. India expects to grow at around 7 per cent in the first half of the next financial year.

On the global front, Asian shares recovered to four-week highs on Friday and were trading mostly in green at this point of time, as a surge in the dollar and its borrowing costs sparked by Donald Trump’s election eased, with the US 10-year yield slipping to one-month lows. The US markets made a mixed closing in last session after a choppy day of trade, though the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to end the day at a new record closing high.

Back home, export oriented sector stocks remained on buyers’ radar, as in a major relief to exporters, the government has agreed to refund as much as 90% of their duty claims just within a week under the new goods and services tax (GST) regime. However, IT stocks continued to trade under pressure, as H1-B visa has been re-introduced in the US Congress by two lawmakers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27004.28, up by 126.04 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 26913.58 and 27009.35. 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 0.70%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.17%, Consumer Durables up by 1.04%, PSU up by 1.02%, Oil & Gas up by 0.87% and FMCG was up by 0.72%, while IT down by 1.86% and TECK was down by 1.46% were the only losing indices on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.50%, ICICI Bank up by 1.42%, GAIL India up by 1.40%, SBI up by 1.32% and HDFC was up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.25%, TCS down by 1.44%, Wipro down by 1.18%, Tata Steel down by 0.01% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after different reports suggested different amount of scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that had been deposited back to the banks by the December 30 deadline, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that the total quantum of scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes deposited in banks and post offices by the December 30, deadline is being reconciled and the final tally will be released soon. It also said that it is taking all steps to complete the process expeditiously so as to release firm figures of specified bank notes (SBNs) received at an early date. Referring to various estimates on scraped notes, the RBI said, such estimate may not indicate the actual numbers.

The RBI further said that its earlier figures were based on aggregation of accounting entries done at the large number of currency chests all over the country. It said that now the scheme has come to an end on December 30, these figures would need to be reconciled with the physical cash balances to eliminate accounting errors/possible double counts etc. Till this is completed, any estimate may not indicate the actual numbers of the SBNs that have been returned. As per RBI’s last declared data, as of December 10, withdrawn banknotes amounting to Rs 12.44 lakh crore had been returned to the RBI and currency chests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 8, announced that Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes were no longer a legal tender, saying the move was aimed at eliminating black money, counterfeit currency and terror financing. Citizens were given up to December 30 to deposit the old currency in banks. About Rs 15.4 lakh crore was to be taken out of the system by way of demonetisation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8304.90, up by 31.10 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8280.85 and 8306.40. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 3.09%, ONGC up by 2.53%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.29%, Indusind Bank up by 1.80% and GAIL India was up by 1.40%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 2.87%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.62%, Infosys down by 2.24%, TCS down by 1.47% and Wipro was down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite rose 5.11 points or 0.1% to 5,330.61, KOSPI Index increased 6.77 points or 0.33% to 2,048.72, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 7.99 points or 0.48% to 1,667.81, Taiwan Weighted added 12.12 points or 0.13% to 9,370.26 and Hang Seng was up by 90.07 points or 0.4% to 22,546.76.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 83.34 points or 0.43% to 19,437.35 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.64 points or 0.11% to 3,161.78.