Local equities continue firm trade

Local equity benchmarks have gathered pace and continue to trade firm in morning session due to increased buying by funds. Markets took encouragement from government’s report that demonetisation followed by digitalisation has succeeded in reducing incremental growth in currency in circulation by over Rs 3 lakh crore. The notes in circulation (NIC) as on November 4, 2016 were worth Rs 17,74,187 crore which have increased to Rs 22,35,648 crore as on December 2, 2019. Besides, European Union stated that it was hopeful of forward movement in negotiations with India on the long-pending free trade agreement, and favoured opening separate talks for an investment protection treaty. EU-India partnership is going through momentous transformation and that there has been a clear commitment by both sides to expand ties in key areas. Meanwhile, direct tax collections, net of refunds, for the April-November period grew just 1.6% against the required rate of 17.4% to achieve the budget estimate of Rs 13.35 lakh crore for the current fiscal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher, following a report that President Donald Trump might delay a weekend tariff hike on Chinese goods. Back home, in script specific, Yes Bank fell over 7% after it postponed the decision to approve or decline the binding offer of $1.2 Billion i.e. 60% of the total capital the bank aims to raise.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40368.67, up by 128.79 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 40135.37 and 40423.14. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.03%, Oil & Gas up by 0.65%, IT up by 0.45%, BANKEX up by 0.44% and FMCG up by 0.42%, while Capital Goods down by 0.23%, Telecom down by 0.14% and Power was down by 0.06% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 1.36%, ITC up by 1.10%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.10%, ONGC up by 1.00% and Tata Motors was up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 7.12%, Power Grid down by 2.30%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.43%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.53% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in its latest data has showed that India's power demand dropped 4.3% in November 2019 from a year ago, representing the fourth straight month of decline, potentially reflecting a worsening industrial slowdown which has stifled overall economic growth.

Data showed that electricity demand fell to 94.60 billion units in November 2019, from 98.84 billion units during the same period last year. India's most industrialized and electricity hungry state of Maharashtra saw demand fall 8.1%. Demand from large states such as the central Madhya Pradesh fell 13.9%, while power requirement from the north western state of Rajasthan fell 5.7%.

For the eight months ending November 30, 2019, India's electricity demand was up 1.2%. Demand rose 6.4% during the eight months ended November 30, 2018. Besides, India's power demand fell 13.2% in October from a year ago, posting its steepest monthly decline in more than 12 years, reflecting a deepening growth slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11894.80, up by 38.00 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 11864.65 and 11907.30. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.14%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.57%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.40%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.31% and Tech Mahindra was up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 6.92%, Power Grid down by 2.30%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.59%, Cipla down by 0.94% and UPL was down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 93.52 points or 0.35% to 26,530.14, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 51.43 points or 0.44% to 11,679.27, Straits Times advanced 9.17 points or 0.29% to 3,172.06, KOSPI rose 5.04 points or 0.24% to 2,103.04 and Shanghai Composite was up by 3.53 points or 0.12% to 2,920.85. On the other side, Jakarta Composite lost 4.66 points or 0.08% to 6,178.85 and Nikkei 225 was down by 41.33 points or 0.18% to 23,368.86.