Markets stay marginally higher ahead of expiry of December F&O contract

Key Indian benchmarks continued to trade marginally higher in late morning session, ahead of expiry of December futures and options contracts. The markets managed to keep their heads above water taking support from the EEPC India new chairman, Ravi P Sehgal’s statement that the year 2018 is expected to be a good year for exports on back of global trade boom. In line with the larger peers, the BSE Mid cap index too was trading flat, despite firm Asian markets. The sentiments remained positive with the reports that the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to ease entry norms for FPIs willing to invest in the Indian markets. However, the trade was thin on the back of continues selling at Banking, Healthcare and Auto counters and there was anxiety among the investors as the government has decided to borrow an additional Rs 50,000 crore this fiscal year, a higher-than-expected figure that could lead to it breaching its fiscal deficit target for the first time in four years and hit the bond and equities markets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as strong economic data from the region and in the US boosted the invertors’ confidence. Back home, in scrip specific development, Indiabulls Housing Finance was trading higher after the company allotted its second tranche of Secured, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of face value Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 895 crore on December 27, 2017.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33914.54, up by 2.73 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 33883.62 and 33975.05. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.93%, Realty up by 1.22%, Basic Materials up by 0.94%, Telecom up by 0.70% and Power up by 0.53%, while Bankex down by 0.15%, Healthcare down by 0.10% and Auto down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.57%, Tata Steel up by 1.07%, Coal India up by 0.76%, ONGC up by 0.65% and TCS up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.27%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.99%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.74%, Axis Bank down by 0.64% and Wipro down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a day after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection for November showed a decline in revenue receipts, the government has decided to raise additional market borrowing of Rs 50,000 crore through dated government securities in the last three months of FY18. The move may result in a breach of its fiscal deficit target of 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) set for this fiscal year.

Besides, the government will trim down the T-Bills from present collections of Rs 86,203 crore to Rs 25,006 crore by March end 2018. However, it also clarified that there would be no change in the net borrowing as envisaged in the Union budget for 2017-18. Noting that borrowings till December26, 2017 have been conducted in line with the borrowing calendar fixed for the fiscal, government clarified that gross and net market borrowings are Rs 5,21,000 crore and Rs 3,81,281 crore, excluding buyback/switches, respectively as on December. As against the budgeted net T-bills receipt of Rs 2,002 crore, net collections till 26 December 2017 are Rs 86,203 crore.

Since the revenue collection from the GST is slightly lower than the expected in the last two months, the additional borrowing would help bridge the shortfall. The GST collections fell for the second consecutive month to Rs 80,808 crore in November, down from Rs 83,346 crore in October, mainly due to sharp cuts in the tax on over 200 items from November 15.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10496.25, up by 5.50 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 10486.25 and 10515.90. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.16%, Vedanta up by 2.01%, UPL up by 1.74%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.67% and Lupin up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.26%, Sun Pharma down by 1.09%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.98%, Wipro down by 0.96% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 8.15 points or 0.46% to 1,779.91, Jakarta Composite increased 14.91 points or 0.24% to 6,292.07, KOSPI Index was up by 22.86 points or 0.94% to 2,459.53, Shanghai Composite added 23.25 points or 0.71% to 3,299.04, Taiwan Weighted jumped by 80.97 points or 0.77% to 10,567.64 and Hang Seng surged 186.96 points or 0.63% to 29,784.62. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 107.75 points or 0.47% to 22,803.46.