Markets hover near day’s high on positive services PMI data

Adding to the gains, key Indian benchmarks were hovering near their intraday high points in late afternoon session, on account of firm Asian cues coupled with positive services PMI data. Activity in India's services industry bounced back to modest growth in December after contracting in the previous month. The Nikkei Services Business Activity Index rose to 50.9 in December from 48.5 in November. Similarly, the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index rose to 53 in December from 50.3 in November. Traders remained optimistic with report that the government has given green single to a revised model concession pact for projects based on public private partnership (PPP) design at major ports. Besides, rally in broader markets along with buying in Metal, Capital Goods and Basic Materials stocks, were also providing support to the markets. On the sectoral front, public sector banking stocks were upbeat as the finance ministry has approved the proposal for the infusion of Rs 7,577 crore in 6 weak public sector banks (PSBs) as part of the recapitalisation plan to bolster the capital adequacy ratio.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following the record closing highs overnight on Wall Street and the surge in crude oil prices to their highest level since December 2014. Upbeat economic data from the Asian region also boosted the sentiments. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bank of Maharashtra was trading higher after the bank received its board’s approval to raise Rs 650 crore through issue of equity capital by way of preferential allotment in favour of the government.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33883.43, up by 90.05 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 33802.13 and 33916.75. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.40%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.79%, Capital Goods up by 1.19%, Basic Materials up by 1.14%, PSU up by 1.00% and Consumer Durables up by 0.91%, while Realty down by 0.39%, IT down by 0.21%, Auto down by 0.18%, TECK down by 0.17% and Healthcare down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.69%, Coal India up by 2.42%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.99%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.88% and Asian Paints up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.34%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.26%, Tata Motors down by 0.76%, Wipro down by 0.66% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the United States (US) is mulling new regulations to stop H-1B visa extensions, mostly used by Indian IT professionals, in line with the US President Donald Trump’s ‘Buy American, Hire American’ campaign that seeks to bring back jobs to the country. An US-based news agency has pointed out that if this happens, the move would directly prevent hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in the US from keeping their H-1B work visas, while their green card application is under processing.

According to the report, such a move aims to impose new restrictions to prevent abuse and misuse of H-1B visas, besides ending the provision of granting extension for those who already have a green card. It also noted that the act currently allows the administration to extend the H-1B visas for thousands of immigrants, predominantly Indian immigrants, beyond the allowed two three-year terms if a green card is pending, Besides, it said that the idea is to create a sort of ‘self- deportation’ of hundreds of thousands of Indian tech workers in the US to open up those jobs for Americans.

The report further said that the proposed changes would have a dramatic effect particularly on Indian visa holders considering more than half of all H-1B visas have been awarded to Indian nationals. It also said that this would be a major catastrophic development as more than 1 million H1-B visa holders have been waiting in line for green cards for over a decade, have US citizen children, own a home. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on H-1B to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10467.30, up by 24.10 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 10441.45 and 10470.10.There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.56%, Coal India up by 2.46%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.25%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.93% and Asian Paints up by 1.62%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.46%, Sun Pharma down by 1.39%, Tata Motors down by 0.94%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.66% and BPCL down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 7.23 points or 0.4% to 1,800.02, Shanghai Composite increased 17.8 points or 0.53% to 3,386.91, Taiwan Weighted increased 47.06 points or 0.44% to 10,848.63, Hang Seng increased 189.79 points or 0.62% to 30,750.74 and Nikkei 225 increased 662.51 points or 2.91% to 23,427.45.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 12.44 points or 0.2% to 6,239.04 and KOSPI Index decreased 11.87 points or 0.48% to 2,474.48.