Bourses manage to keep heads above water

Indian equity bourses managed to keep their heads above water in late afternoon session, tracking firm opening of European markets. The street was getting some relief, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced new rules, in a bid to improve user convenience and increase the security of card transactions. The RBI asked the issuers to provide a facility to switch on / off and set / modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions - domestic and international, at PoS / ATMs / online transactions / contactless transactions, etc. Some support also came with a report that the MSME Export Promotion Council (MSNE-EPC) is holding the first three-day summit for aspiring entrepreneurs in the North East from Friday to pave the way for development of entrepreneurship and businesses by women and youths of the region.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as the Dutch jobless rate dropped in December after remaining steady in the previous month. The data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed that the ILO jobless rate for the 15-75 year old age group declined to seasonally- adjusted 3.2 percent in December from 3.5 percent in November. However, Asian markets were trading in red, after China's house prices increased at a slower pace in December. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that house prices in the first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou grew 0.2 percent versus 0.6 percent in November.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41918.45, up by 45.72 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 41812.28 and 42059.45. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.87%, Realty up by 0.73%, Healthcare up by 0.63%, Consumer Durables up by 0.54% and Consumer Disc up by 0.51%, while Metal down by 1.39%, PSU down by 0.37%, Basic Materials down by 0.35% and Oil & Gas down by 0.26% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 2.78%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.52%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.04%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.98% and Power Grid up by 0.98%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.86%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.47%, Tata Steel down by 1.47%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.30% and Axis Bank down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to improve user convenience and increase the security of card transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced new rules, amid rising instances of fraud. As per the notification released by the apex bank, at the time of issue or re-issue, all cards (physical and virtual) should be enabled for use only at contact based points of usage (viz. ATMs and Point of Sale (PoS) devices) within India.  

Besides, issuers should provide cardholders a facility for enabling card not present (domestic and international) transactions, card present (international) transactions and contactless transactions rights. Existing cards which have never been used for online (card not present) / international / contactless transactions shall be mandatorily disabled for this purpose.

The RBI also asked the issuers to provide a facility to switch on / off and set / modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions – domestic and international, at PoS / ATMs / online transactions / contactless transactions, etc.

The Apex Bank further said that the above facility should be provided on a 24x7 basis through multiple channels - mobile application / internet banking / ATMs / Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and this may also be offered at branches / offices. It also asked the issuers to provide alerts / information / status, etc., through SMS / e-mail, as and when there is any change in status of the card.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12354.50, up by 11.20 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 12315.80 and 12389.05. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.46%, Nestle up by 2.77%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.36%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.46% and Power Grid up by 1.11%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.05%, JSW Steel down by 1.96%, NTPC down by 1.90%, Hindalco down by 1.71% and Vedanta down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 24.95 points or 0.21% to 12,066.93, Shanghai Composite declined 16.19 points or 0.52% to 3,073.85, Jakarta Composite lost 10.83 points or 0.17% to 6,272.54 and Hang Seng was down by 6.02 points or 0.02% to 28,767.57. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 14.76 points or 0.45% to 3,271.74, Nikkei 225 surged 16.55 points or 0.07% to 23,933.13 and KOSPI was up by 17.07 points or 0.77% to 2,248.05.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.56 points or 0.01% to 7,643.36, France’s CAC rose 20.75 points or 0.34% to 6,053.36 and Germany’s DAX was up by 48.86 points or 0.36% to 13,481.16.