Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading with a gain of around quarter a percent. Sentiments remained up-beat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi setting up a task force under the chairmanship of the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr Arvind Panagriya, with an aim to create policies on employment based on credible data. The Prime Minister has directed that this task be expedited so that policies on employment can be formulated with a proper appreciation of impacts, based on credible data. Hopes of higher agricultural and economic growth post better monsoon forecast by IMD too added to the sentiments.

Positive global cues too aided sentiments with most of the Asian counters trading in green at this point of time, as a rebound in oil boosted energy producers. Also, the corporate earnings and positive data on the US economy have buoyed sentiments about global growth. The US markets continued their consolidation mood and once again made a mixed closing with trade turning cautious after US President Donald Trump's abrupt dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally. The market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,241 shares on the gaining side against 809 shares on the losing side while 94 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30313.51, up by 65.34 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 30296.32 and 30346.79. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.25%, Realty up by 1.15%, Consumer Disc up by 0.84%, Basic Materials up by 0.75% and Consumer Durables up by 0.63%, while Telecom down by 1.01%, Power down by 0.41%, Capital Goods down by 0.13% and Utilities down by 0.13% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.55%, Tata Steel up by 1.34%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.26%, ITC up by 1.20% and ONGC up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.84%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.93%, NTPC down by 0.43%, Reliance Industries down by 0.25% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, almost six month after the announcement of demonetisation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused to share details of the note ban process and said that it would be detrimental to the India’s economic interests. RBI also said that disclosing such details may impede future economic or fiscal policies of Government of India.

Replying to the RTI query, RBI said ‘The information sought in the query carries sensitive background information including opinions, data, studies/ surveys etc. made prior to the completion of the process of withdrawal of legal tender character of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Disclosure of such information would detriment economic interest of the country from the viewpoint of the objectives sought to be achieved by such decision’. Therefore, the disclosure of information qualifies for exemption under section 8 (1) (a) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The central bank also said no part of the record (sought by the applicant) can be provided as contemplated in section 10 of the transparency law. The section allows access to that part of the record which can reasonably be severed from any part that contains exempted information. The section bars sharing of information which would ‘prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence’.

The RBI was asked to provide a copy of the minutes of the meetings held in its office during which the decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was taken. It was also asked to share a copy of the correspondence made with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Finance Ministry on demonetisation issue.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9435.70, up by 28.40 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 9426.65 and 9450.65. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.69%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.57%, Eicher Motors up by 3.55%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.84% and Tata Steel up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.81%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.98%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.73%, NTPC down by 0.34% and Indusind Bank down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted gained 11.19 points or 0.11% to 9,979.51, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 11.31 points or 0.64% to 1,777.87, KOSPI Index surged 22.31 points or 0.98% to 2,291.92, Nikkei 225 increased 52.09 points or 0.26% to 19,952.18 and Hang Seng was up by 63.41 points or 0.25% to 25,078.83.

 On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 11.79 points or 0.39% to 3,041.00.