Bourses continue to trade with traction

The local benchmarks continued to trade with traction in late afternoon session but in tight band, with Metal index remained top gainer among all other sectoral indices. The broader indices were also performing in high spirit, with the gains of more than a percent each. Sentiments remained upbeat as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is slated to come out with an update of its projections of India’s growth rate along with the rest of the world in January, sees benefits in the medium-term from the demonetisation exercise which India carried out about a year ago. Besides, traders were taking support with the private report stating that India's economic growth has bottomed out and the GDP growth will recover further to 7 percent over the next few quarters but it is likely to take few years to return to 7.5 percent above levels. Separately, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the strengthening of public sector banks (PSBs), infrastructure and housing will be top priorities for government next year. The markets also got boost by index heavyweights like Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC Bank and Adani Ports & SEZ.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as fresh concerns over US tax reform plans dampened market sentiment and as investors were still digesting the European Central Bank's latest policy decision. Asian stocks were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Eveready Industries India shined after the company received orders for supply of Ceiling Fans and smart LED Street Lighting Luminaires of the value totaling to Rs 23.85 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33515.88, up by 269.18 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 33456.02 and 33621.96. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.01%, while Small cap index was up by 1.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.57%, Consumer Durables up by 1.77%, Basic Materials up by 1.48%, Consumer Disc up by 1.39% and Auto up by 1.39%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.38%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.02%, HDFC Bank up by 2.13%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.01% and Coal India up by 2.00%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 0.65%, Cipla down by 0.58%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.56%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.28% and Asian Paints down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after implementation of various reform measures like Goods and Services Tax (GST), note ban and the bankruptcy code, the strengthening of public sector banks (PSBs), infrastructure and housing are going to be the top priorities for government next year.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley emphasized the need to continue the momentum on infrastructure creation and expedite investment in railways to propel the Indian economy, including on stations, quality of trains and proposed bullet train, as they are core factors to India’s future growth story.

Finance Minister also outlined need to complete the task of strengthening the PSBs to improve their lending capacity and added that this will support growth and help the economy to become formal. He noted that banks have a lot of money lying with them but their lending capacity is limited due to lack of capital adequacy. Jaitley also mentioned that housing in rural areas by 2022 is going to be top agenda along with these two areas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10338.75, up by 86.65 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 10326.35 and 10373.10. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 4.81%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.00%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.90%, Yes Bank up by 2.85% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.62%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.29%, ONGC down by 0.65%, Cipla down by 0.61%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.60% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Asian stocks were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 318.27 points or 1.09% to 28,848.11, Nikkei 225 decreased 141.23 points or 0.62% to 22,553.22, Taiwan Weighted decreased 46.57 points or 0.44% to 10,491.44, Jakarta Composite decreased 29.65 points or 0.48% to 6,084.00, Shanghai Composite decreased 26.3 points or 0.8% to 3,266.14 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.58 points or 0.43% to 1,751.42. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 12.59 points or 0.51% to 2,482.07.

All European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 25.26 points or 0.19% to 13,042.82, France’s CAC dropped 12.04 points or 0.22% to 5,345.10 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 2.93 points or 0.04% to 7,445.19.