Indian benchmarks continue firm trade in noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments got a push with Minister for Road Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari’s statement that it’s the right time for investing in India. He added that the country is working on ways to improve purchasing power of common men as that will help to boost further opportunities. Some support also came with global rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) indicating that to overcome uncertainties from global geopolitical changes and domestic policy-making, strong domestic demand and cost competitiveness in exports will help Indian companies. It also said that faster economic growth as well as reforms will make India a good macroeconomic story and this coupled with the stable credit profile of companies, bodes well for foreign currency bonds by Indian issuers.  Furthermore, expectations of encouraging earnings from more blue-chip companies also influenced sentiment. In scrip specific development, Hester Biosciences was up by over two percent after reporting 21.85% rise in its net profit at Rs 5.80 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 as compared to Rs 4.76 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street and upbeat comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen about the U.S. economy. Some of the markets have pared their initial gains on caution ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27341.71, up by 84.07 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 27219.89 and 27346.35. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.90%, PSU up by 0.91%, Consumer Durables up by 0.87%, Auto up by 0.43% and FMCG up by 0.39%, while Metal down by 0.18%, Power down by 0.16% and IT down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.53%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.49%, Tata Motors up by 1.98%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.46% and SBI up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.09%, Cipla down by 0.90%, Axis Bank down by 0.75%, Tata Steel down by 0.62% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, briefing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance about demonetisation, the Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel has said that discussions between the central bank and the government over the demonetisation issue began in early 2016. He also said that about Rs 9.2 lakh crore have been reintroduced in the economy since the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were demonetised on November 8, 2016.

The crucial meeting was held to discuss the demonetisation of the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 and the impact thereof. During the meeting, Congress members of the committee asked questions like whose decision it was to withdraw high currency notes and also raised questions about the autonomy of the RBI. The questions put up by the panel ranged from the total amount of money that came back during the demonetisation period, the total amount of new bills of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 that were printed, what how much was sent to the banks for remonetisation.

However, Patel refused to answer the questions on how much money has been deposited in banks since the move was announced and said that calculations were still on. Therefore, the finance ministry has sought time from the panel to provide answers to the queries raised during the meeting in which the finance secretary made a presentation before the committee as the members seemed not too satisfied with the replies. Patel is also scheduled to appear before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on the same issue on January 20. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8438.30, up by 21.30 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8404.05 and 8439.25. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.53%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.35%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.45%, BPCL up by 2.42% and Idea Cellular up by 2.37%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.34%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.24%, Hindalco down by 0.96%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.94% and Indusind Bank down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng decreased 101.29 points or 0.44% to 22,996.97, Taiwan Weighted decreased 23.85 points or 0.26% to 9,318.12, Shanghai Composite decreased 13.37 points or 0.43% to 3,099.64 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.09 points or 0.07% to 1,663.93. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 2.25 points or 0.11% to 2,072.79, Jakarta Composite increased 12.56 points or 0.24% to 5,307.34 and Nikkei 225 increased 177.88 points or 0.94% to 19,072.25.