Markets off day's high in noon deals

Indian key bourses pared most of the gains to come off their day’s highs in early afternoon session but remained in green terrain on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments were still getting some support with the statement of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, who dismissing concerns of fiscal slippage has said the next Union Budget will not be a populist one. He said that there shouldn’t be a fear of fiscal risk because of slippage, because if at all, a fiscal slippage happens, it would only be for the right reasons. Besides, the rupee's strength against dollar together with buying appeared in Energy, Industrials and Metal stocks, too provided some support to the major indices. However, the markets trimmed most of their gains, as anxiety spread among the traders ahead of key economic data - industrial production (IIP) numbers for November and retail inflation for December - to be released later in the day. In scrip specific development, TCS was down by over a percent after reporting a marginal fall of 0.25% in its net profit at Rs 6,069 crore for Q3FY18, as compared to net profit of Rs 6,084 crore Q3FY17.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, supported by US earnings optimism and a rise in oil prices. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34531.61, up by 28.12 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 34521.39 and 34638.42. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.65%, Industrials up by 0.51%, Metal up by 0.49%, Oil & Gas up by 0.39% and Capital Goods up by 0.29%, while Realty down by 0.67%, Telecom down by 0.63%, IT down by 0.36%, TECK down by 0.30% and FMCG down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.01%, ICICI Bank up by 0.90%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.79%, Tata Motors up by 0.78% and HDFC up by 0.64%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.34%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.23%, Sun Pharma down by 0.92%, Asian Paints down by 0.90% and Yes Bank down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global aviation body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has stated that India has registered a growth of 16.4 percent in domestic air passenger traffic in the month of November 2017, topping the growth chart worldwide. It also indicated that the country continued to witness double-digit growth for the 39th consecutive month. Besides, it noted that the airline industry is in a good place entering 2018 and November's strong demand gives the industry momentum.

According to the IATA's data, on the global level, the total revenue passenger kilometer (RPK) an indicator of passenger growth climbed 8 percent in November 2017 as compared to the same month in 2016, the fastest rate in five months. It noted that the available seat kilometeres (ASKs) or capacity grew by 6.3 percent. It also showed that the ASK for India was at 10.4 percent, second only to China where capacity grew by 12.9 percent.

IATA's Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac has said that the number of unique city-pair connections now tops 20,000. He said that passengers not only have more travel choices than ever, the cost of travel in real terms has never been cheaper. He also expects that 2018 to be the fourth year in a row where the industry's return on invested capital will exceed the cost of capital. However, he said that challenges remained, including security threats, infrastructure constraints as well as growing fees and charges.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10659.55, up by 8.35 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 10652.60 and 10690.25. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.53%, Vedanta up by 1.41%, Reliance Industries up by 1.08%, ICICI Bank up by 1.05% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.86%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.31%, UPL down by 1.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.16%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.00% and Lupin down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 0.1 points or 0% to 6,386.44, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 4.76 points or 0.26% to 1,821.64, Shanghai Composite added 5.09 points or 0.15% to 3,430.43, KOSPI Index was up by 8.51 points or 0.34% to 2,496.42, Taiwan Weighted increased 73.9 points or 0.68% to 10,883.96 and Hang Seng surged 191.01 points or 0.61% to 31,311.40.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 56.61 points or 0.24% to 23,653.82.