Local bourses in buoyant mood; Sensex above 27000 mark

The benchmark equity indices continued to trade higher in noon session on sustained buying by funds and retail investors amid a firming trend at other Asian markets. Sentiments remained bullish with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India is on threshold of becoming most digitised economy in the world. While he also declared his ambition to bring about a paradigm shift through a series of historic changes, reiterating the government's commitment to reforms and projecting India as a bright spot amid global gloom after having emerged as the world's fastest-growing economy. However, caution prevailed ahead of macroeconomic data, President-elect Donald Trump's first presser due later in the day and quarterly earnings from blue-chip companies. Furthermore, the World Bank pared India’s growth forecast for FY17 to 7% from 7.6% estimated earlier, attributing it partly to demonetisation of high-value currency notes.

On the global front, Asian markets edged higher on Wednesday as investors looked to President-elect Donald Trump's news conference later in the day for any clues to his policies on tax, fiscal spending, international trade and currencies. While his plan for tax cuts and infrastructure spending has boosted U.S. shares and the dollar, his protectionist statements have kept many investors on guard. Resources stocks advanced on higher commodity prices, while crude oil prices rebounded in Asian trades.

Back home, barring IT and TECk, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, metal index surged the most by 3.6 percent, banking surged by 1.62 percent, PSU surged by 0.98 percent and capital goods surged by 0.97 percent. On the other hand, IT index was down by 0.51 percent and TECk down by 0.29 percent. In scrip specific development, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) gained after the company bagged order from Power Grid for the augmentation of three Extra High Voltage (EHV) substations in the state of Karnataka, on turnkey basis.  Furthermore, Indusind Bank jumped after the Bank reported 29.19% rise in its net profit at Rs 750.64 crore for third quarter ended December 31, 2016, as compared to Rs 581.02 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1572 shares on the gaining side against 823 shares on the losing side, while 143 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27047.79, up by 148.23 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 26978.44 and 27078.69. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.83%, while Small cap index up by 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.59%, Bankex up by 1.66%, PSU up by 1.04%, Capital Goods up by 0.84% and Oil & Gas up by 0.41%, while IT down by 0.46% and TECK down by 0.25% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 3.75%, Tata Steel up by 3.39%, Lupin up by 1.67%, HDFC Bank up by 1.46% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.22%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.25%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.86%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.56%, Infosys down by 0.37% and Cipla down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with the government taking various initiatives to improve ease of doing business, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the country received $130 billion FDI in the last two-and-a-half years. He also said that in the last two financial years the FDI equity inflow was higher by 66 percent as compared to previous two financial years and added that in the last year the total FDI inflow in India have been the highest ever. PM noted that Make in India has become the biggest brand that India has ever had.

Stating that highest emphasis has been on ease of doing business, Modi said that decisive steps have been taken to ease licensing processes and rationalise provisions and procedures relating to clearances, returns and inspections. He stated that in the last two years, the number of countries from where FDI is coming in and the sectors in which they are being routed have also expanded. He said that they have liberalised FDI regime in many sectors and in various ways and observed that India is today among the most open economies. He further said that India is now a leading recipient of capital goods in Asia Pacific and has left every country behind in terms of providing returns on investment.

Listing out initiatives taken by his government in last two-and-a- half years to improve business climate in the country, the Prime Minister said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) is in offing while Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, a National Company Law Tribunal, a new arbitration centre for dispute resolution and a new IPR regime are all in place. He also said that they are monitoring implementation of hundreds of action points across various sectors which aimed at improving the regulatory framework.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8337.85, up by 49.25 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 8322.25 and 8345.45. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.57%, Coal India up by 3.79%, Hindalco up by 3.44%, Tata Steel up by 3.13% and Yes Bank up by 3.12%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.01%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.80%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.78%, Bosch down by 0.66% and HCL Tech down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 0.13%, Taiwan Weighted increased 0.02%, Jakarta Composite increased 0.03%, KOSPI Index surged 1.45%, Nikkei 225 added 0.38% and Hang Seng was up by 0.7%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.54%.