Markets continue to hold early gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to hold their earlier gains in late afternoon session with gains of around half a per cent each amid mixed global cues. Investors remained optimistic with a report that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country’s services sector increased by 77.6 percent to $7.55 billion during April- December 2016-17, as compared to $4.25 billion in the same period last year. Moreover, the overall foreign inflows in the country increased by 22 percent to $35.84 billion during April-December 2016-17. Sentiments remained supportive as the country moved a step closer towards launching a long-awaited Good and Services Tax from July after a panel of central and state finance officials finalised two key bills to be put before parliament.

On global front, European markets were trading in red as investors contemplated a rate rise by the U.S. Federal Reserve. However, Asian markets were trading in green, dismissing earlier concerns about increased geopolitical risks in Asia after North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles. Back home, in scrip specific development, HDFC Bank edged higher after the Bank unveiled an electronic virtual assistant (EVA), an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot, for customer services. It is India's first AI-based banking chatbot and can answer millions of customer queries across multiple channels instantly.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28986.29, up by 153.84 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 28856.12 and 29070.20. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.60%, Telecom up by 1.05%, Oil & Gas up by 0.94%, Auto up by 0.89% and Power up by 0.85%, while Metal down by 0.50%, IT down by 0.48%, Consumer Durables down by 0.37%, TECK down by 0.22% and Basic Materials down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.30%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.86%, Power Grid up by 1.62%, Tata Motors up by 1.54% and NTPC up by 1.44%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.34%, Sun Pharma down by 0.82%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.70%, Tata Steel down by 0.70% and Wipro down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, country’s import bill can be reduced by $10 billion in five years and carbon emissions can be cut by using domestic coal gas as a feedstock for producing urea and other chemicals. Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar has said that the country should use coal to produce gas adding that the indigenous coal gasification will not only reduce the emission intensity but would also lessen the adverse environmental impact.

The Coal Secretary further said that if the country is able to gasify coal, then it can be used for production of chemicals, including urea and methanol, it would lead to the reduction in import bill manifold by 2030 and will reduce the country’s dependence on petroleum and natural gas.

Susheel Kumar noted that at present, import expenditure of four-five chemicals like urea, methanol, ammonia and ascetic acid is around $5.5 billion and if we are able to replace this import by indigenous coal gasification, our dependence on petroleum and natural gas will be reduced. The government is planning to come up with a series of pilot projects in areas like coal gasification and coal-to-polychemicals next fiscal and once the projects are successful, the government will push for commercial use of technology for utilisation of country's huge coal reserves.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8938.50, up by 40.95 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 8914.00 and 8967.80. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.43%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.64%, Yes Bank up by 1.61%, Indusind Bank up by 1.60% and Power Grid up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 1.72%, TCS down by 1.39%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.36%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.08% and Sun Pharma down by 0.95% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 2.61 points or 0.13% to 2,081.36, Jakarta Composite increased 7.08 points or 0.13% to 5,398.30, Shanghai Composite increased 15.55 points or 0.48% to 3,233.87, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 15.77 points or 0.92% to 1,724.15, Taiwan Weighted increased 34.42 points or 0.36% to 9,682.63 and Hang Seng increased 43.56 points or 0.18% to 23,596.28. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 90.03 points or 0.46% to 19,379.14.

All the European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 63.53 points or 0.53% to 11,963.83, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 21.55 points or 0.29% to 7,352.71 and France’s CAC decreased 11.28 points or 0.23% to 4,983.85.