Bourses linger near neutral lines with marginal gains

Indian equity benchmarks were lingering near their neutral lines in late afternoon session, with marginal gains. Trade remained in green terrain, amid reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities (G-Secs) under Open Market Operations (OMO) for Rs 10,000 crore each on January 23, 2020, in wake of the current liquidity and market situation and an assessment of the evolving financial conditions. Some relief also came with a private report stating that India attracted tech investments worth $9.36 billion last year, a 95 per cent increase compared with the previous year.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even though the euro area current account surplus declined in November from the previous month. The European Central Bank reported that the current account surplus fell to EUR 34 billion from EUR 36 billion in October. Asian markets were also trading in green, after the Bank of Korea left its key interest rates unchanged as sluggishness in the domestic economy eased somewhat. The Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea decided to maintain the base rate at 1.25 percent. The bank had reduced the rate by 25 basis points each in July and October 2019.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41960.78, up by 28.22 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 41850.29 and 42063.93. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.76%, Telecom up by 1.61%, Healthcare up by 1.19%, Consumer Durables up by 0.67% and Power up by 0.60%, while Bankex down by 0.74%, PSU down by 0.67%, Metal down by 0.55%, Capital Goods down by 0.32% and Realty down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 5.45%, Reliance Industries up by 2.75%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.23%, Sun Pharma up by 0.91% and Nestle up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.72%, SBI down by 1.67%, HDFC down by 1.10%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.07% and HDFC Bank down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in wake of the current liquidity and market situation and an assessment of the evolving financial conditions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities (G-Secs) under Open Market Operations (OMO) for Rs 10,000 crore each on January 23, 2020.

As per the notification, RBI reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase/sale of individual securities; accept bids/offers for less than the aggregate amount as well as purchase/sell marginally higher than the aggregate amount due to rounding-off effects.

The Apex Bank also reserves the right to accept or reject any or all the bid/offers either wholly or partially without assigning any reasons. It asked eligible participants to submit their bids/offers in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on January 23, 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12357.10, up by 1.60 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 12321.40 and 12385.45. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 5.51%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.58%, Reliance Industries up by 2.73%, Grasim Industries up by 1.77% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 9.22%, Yes Bank down by 3.13%, Indusind Bank down by 2.38%, GAIL India down by 1.86% and SBI down by 1.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 108.13 points or 0.45% to 24,041.26, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 23.36 points or 0.19% to 12,090.29, Shanghai Composite gained 5.64 points or 0.18% to 3,079.72 and KOSPI was up by 2.52 points or 0.11% to 2,250.57. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 3.21 points or 0.1% to 3,274.79, Jakarta Composite lost 10.39 points or 0.17% to 6,275.66 and Hang Seng was down by 16.56 points or 0.06% to 28,866.48.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 29.94 points or 0.39% to 7,639.75, France’s CAC rose 46.80 points or 0.77% to 6,085.83 and Germany’s DAX was up by 82.86 points or 0.62% to 13,512.29.