Local bourses hold gains in afternoon session

The local barometer gauges held their gains of over half a percent each in afternoon session, on account of buying in frontline counters, tracking year-end rally in global peers. Sentiments on the street remained optimistic with Union Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India will aim to receive $100 billion in foreign direct investments in the next two years and special industrial clusters are being created for countries like Japan, South Korea, China and Russia where their companies can invest and operate. The sentiments were also supported by a private report stating that with global crude oil prices slumping to below $50 a barrel just months after crossing $86, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is now confident that the current account deficit (CAD) for 2018-19 (FY19) can be contained at about 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Earlier, the government had estimated the CAD would be 2.8 per cent of GDP. Besides, short-covering by participants with Thursday being the last trading session of the December series of derivative contracts also supported the sentiments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as as positive holiday sales data in the U.S. coupled with an attempt by the White House to mend its relationship with the Federal Reserve brought some much-needed relief to investors. Back home, BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35915.95, up by 266.01 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 35823.73 and 36041.24. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.95%, TECK up by 1.73%, Energy up by 1.37%, Oil & Gas up by 0.74% and FMCG up by 0.70%, while Telecom down by 0.09% and Power down by 0.05% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.37%, Reliance Industries up by 2.24%, TCS up by 2.04%, HCL Tech. up by 1.62% and Indusind Bank up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.15%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.96%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.89%, Power Grid down by 0.74% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the share of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) in domestic capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) jumped Rs 79,247 crore at the end of November. According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, total value of P-note investments in Indian markets including equity, debt and derivatives, at November end climbed to Rs 79,247 crore from Rs 66,587 crore at the end of October. In September, the value of P-note investments stood at Rs 79,548 crore.

Of the total, P-note holdings in equities at November-end were at Rs 62,971 crore, while in debts and derivatives were at Rs 15,044 crore and Rs 1,232 crore respectively. Besides, the quantum of FPI investments via P-notes rose to 2.5% during the period under review from 2.2% in the preceding month. P-note investments were on a decline since June last year and hit an over eight-year low in September 2017. This drop in investment trend continued till 2018. However, these investments rose slightly in August and again dropped in September and October. 

In July 2017, SEBI had notified stricter norms stipulating a fee of $1,000 on each instrument to check any misuse for channelising black money. It had also prohibited FPIs from issuing such notes where the underlying asset is a derivative, except those which are used for hedging purposes. In December, capital market regulator SEBI relaxed its norms for clubbing of investment limits by well regulated foreign investors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10804.65, up by 74.80 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 10773.90 and 10834.20. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.46%, GAIL India up by 2.29%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.26%, Reliance Industries up by 2.14% and TCS up by 1.95%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.27%, HPCL down by 1.19%, Coal India down by 1.05%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.89% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Straits Times advanced 50.43 points or 1.67% to 3,061.58, KOSPI rose 0.43 points or 0.02% to 2,028.44, Nikkei 225 surged 750.56 points or 3.88% to 20,077.62, Jakarta Composite soared 41.52 points or 0.68% to 6,169.37 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 162.57 points or 1.72% to 9,641.56.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 4.26 points or 0.17% to 2,494.03 and Hang Seng was down by 86.73 points or 0.34% to 25,564.65.