Sensex, Nifty turn green in early noon deals

Local equity benchmarks erased all losses to turn positive in early noon session, both Sensex and Nifty were trading above 35,850 and 10,750 marks, respectively. Buying in frontline stocks such as ICICI Bank, Vedanta and Reliance Industries were aiding sentiment, while selling in Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel and HCL Technologies kept gains in the markets in check. Sentiment turned positive as employment generation in the formal sector almost trebled to touch a 16-month high of 7.16 lakh in December 2018 compared to 2.37 lakh in the year-ago month. Around 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from September 2017 to December 2018, the data showed. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the last 16 months. Traders remained optimistic as Oil-rich Saudi Arabia said that India is its No.1 priority foreign investment destination and its companies are looking at becoming household names in the country with projects in oil refining, petrochemicals and fertilisers. However, gains remained limited as the Commerce and industry ministry in its latest data has showed that in the first nine months (April-December) of current financial year (FY19) Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India contracted by 7% to $33.49 billion as compared to $35.94 billion in same period of last financial year (FY18). A decline in FDI inflows could put pressure on the country's balance of payments and may also impact the value of the rupee.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mostly in green, as the US Federal Reserve minutes affirmed that the central bank would be patient on interest rate hikes, amid anticipation of a resolution to US-China trade tiff. Bank on streets, TRF gained on receiving approval for issuance of Non-Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares (NCRPS) to Tata Steel, on a private placement basis for aggregating up to Rs 250 crore. Besides, Bank of Maharashtra edged up as the Government of India has decided to infuse capital of Rs 205 crore in bank.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35865.90, up by 109.64 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 35707.29 and 35881.84. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.43%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.98%, Basic Materials up by 0.87%, Metal up by 0.79%, FMCG up by 0.50%, Bankex up by 0.45%, while Telecom down by 1.13%, Auto down by 0.42%, Utilities down by 0.09%, TECK down by 0.13% and IT was down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.42%, Vedanta up by 2.06%, Reliance Industries up by 1.59%, ONGC up by 1.11% and Tata Steel was up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.21%, HCL Technologies down by 1.03%, Yes Bank down by 1.01% and Infosys was down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with two major cases at the final stage of resolution, the Finance Ministry is expecting Non-performing asset (NPA) recoveries to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore by March 2019. Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar has said that public sector banks (PSBs) have so far recovered Rs 1 lakh crore under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Lenders are expecting to recover almost Rs 52,000 crore loan in case of Essar Steel while Rs 18,000 crore from Bhushan Power & Steel. Besides, the NCLT is expected to finalise corporate insolvency resolution process of several stressed assets including Videocon Group, Monnet Ispat, Amtek Auto and Ruchi Soya. As per estimates, the IBC has helped directly and indirectly resolve stressed assets worth approximately Rs 3 lakh crore since the new law came into effect in December 2016.

Besides, he expects very positive outlook for PSBs in Q4 (January-March) of 2018-19. He also said that banks have posted a combined profit in the last quarter. He also pointed out that provisioning by and large is over and resolution in the current quarter would add recoveries. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10774.90, up by 39.45 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 10721.50 and 10778.25. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.53%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.36%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.26%, Vedanta up by 2.03% and Grasim Industries up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.08%, BPCL down by 2.54%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.31%, HCL Tech. down by 1.21% and Yes Bank down by 1.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 73.20 points or 0.26% to 28,587.25, Nikkei 225 surged 32.74 points or 0.15% to 21,464.23, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 47.07 points or 0.46% to 10,319.53, Straits Times advanced 3.49 points or 0.11% to 3,281.87, Jakarta Composite soared 4.26 points or 0.07% to 6,517.04 and Shanghai Composite was up by 23.07 points or 0.84% to 2,784.29. On the flip side; KOSPI was down by 3.41 points or 0.15% to 2,226.35.