Markets continue to trade in green in early noon deals

Indian stock markets continued to trade in positive terrain in the early noon session due to buying in Metal, Power and Utilities stocks. Buying in frontline stocks such as Yes Bank, Tata Motors and Vedanta were aiding sentiment, while selling in Infosys, ONGC and HCL Technologies kept the gains in the markets in check. Sentiments remained up-beat as Union Cabinet approved changes to the insolvency law, including a provision to ring-fence successful resolution applicants from criminal proceedings with regard to offences committed by previous promoters of a company. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 605.41 crore on December 11, 2019. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following Federal Reserve 's decision to keep the interest rates steady and signaled that borrowing costs are likely to remain unchanged indefinitely. Back on street, the broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,156 shares on the gaining side against 839 shares on the losing side while 136 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40515.24, up by 102.67 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 40490.69 and 40636.96. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.72%, Power up by 1.14%, Utilities up by 1.13%, Basic Materials up by 1.10% and Auto was up by 0.95%, while IT down by 0.73%, TECK down by 0.69% and Telecom was down by 0.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 5.37%, Tata Motors up by 4.61%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.73%, Vedanta up by 3.54% and Power Grid Corporation was up by 2.83%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.16%, ONGC down by 1.41%, HCL Technologies down by 1.13%, Asian Paints down by 0.31% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to purchase high-rated pooled assets from financially sound Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs), the Union Cabinet has approved a partial credit guarantee scheme for public sector banks (PSBs). PSBs can purchase high-rated pooled assets from financially sound NBFCs/HFCs, with the amount of overall guarantee provided by government till the first loss of up to 10% of fair value of assets being purchased by banks or Rs 10,000 crore, whichever is lower.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget speech for 2019-20 had announced that the government will provide one-time six months' partial credit guarantee to PSBs for first loss of up to 10% for purchase of high-rated pooled assets of financially sound NBFCs, amounting to a total of Rs 1 lakh crore during the current financial year.

The scheme was announced to address temporary liquidity/cash flow mismatch issues of otherwise solvent NBFCs/HFCs without them having to resort to distress sale of their assets for meeting their commitments. The scheme will cover NBFCs/HFCs that may have slipped into SMA-0 category during the one year period prior to August 1, 2018, and asset pools rated 'BBB+' or higher. SMA-0 accounts are the special mention accounts (SMA) against which the principal or interest or any other amount wholly or partially is overdue between 1-30 days.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11944.60, up by 34.45 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 11934.00 and 11977.30. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 5.61%, Tata Motors up by 4.42%, Vedanta up by 3.25%, UPL up by 2.74% and Power Grid Corporation was up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.35%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.75%, ONGC down by 1.52%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.00% and HCL Technologies was down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 360.31 points or 1.35% to 27,005.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 135.65 points or 1.16% to 11,836.42, KOSPI rose 30.45 points or 1.45% to 2,136.07, Straits Times advanced 27.73 points or 0.87% to 3,200.63 and Nikkei 225 was up by 47.76 points or 0.2% to 23,439.62.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 4.64 points or 0.16% to 2,919.78 and Jakarta Composite was down by 9.25 points or 0.15% to 6,170.85.