Markets hold early gains amid quiet trading

After a listless start and a subsequent upmove, Indian equity markets held early gains in the late morning session amid some stock specific activity. The Sensex was up 47.72 points, while the Nifty trading firm above 6,000 level. On sectoral front, most rate sensitive stocks like banks and autos were holding up on hopes that the RBI will cut interest rates at its policy review on January 29. While cement stocks were dragging the market down. Select blue chips from FMCG, healthcare and information technology sectors were trading firm, while, capital goods stocks, which rebounded smartly in late afternoon trade on Thursday, opened on a steady note this morning, but have come off their highs due to profit taking. In global markets, Asian shares were mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei surging on the back of a weaker yen, while Wall Street provided an uneven lead. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 1,289 shares on the losing side against 1,068 shares on the gaining side while 130 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,971.50 up by 47.72 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 20,003.57 and 19,928.11. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48% and Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.14%, Realty up by 1.09%, Auto up by 0.78%, Health Care up by 0.66% and FMCG up by 0.61%. While, Metal down by 0.38% and Oil & Gas down by 0.09% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.91%, Cipla up by 1.32%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.25%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.22% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.10%.

On the flip side, Tata Power was down by 1.16%, Coal India was down by 0.93%, HDFC was down by 0.86%, Jindal Steel was down by 0.84% and Tata Steel was down by 0.73% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightening the rules of offering differential interest rates on large size term deposits, has also allowed  banks to now stop large depositors from premature withdrawal of their money.

As per RBI’s circular on ‘Interest Rates on and Premature Withdrawal of Rupee Term Deposits’, the bank can now charge different rates of interest only on bulk deposits of above Rs 100 million (i.e., Rs 10 crore), higher than previous limit of Rs 1.5 million. Meanwhile, for deposits below Rs 1 crore (10 million rupees), the same rate will be applicable for deposits of the same maturity.

Additionally, RBI has allowed banks to disallow premature withdrawal of deposits of over Rs 1 crore, of all depositors, including deposits of individuals and HUFs. However, bank should notify such depositors of its policy of disallowing premature withdrawal in advance, i.e., at the time of accepting such deposits. Further, banks will have the freedom to determine its own penal interest rates for premature withdrawal of term deposits.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,028.95 up by 9.60 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 6,036.35 and 6,014.45. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 3.11%, JP Associate up by 2.66%, Tata Motors up by 2.03%, HCL Tech up by 1.56% and BPCL up by 1.42%

On the flip side, ACC down by 2.54%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.80%, Tata Power down by 1.53%, DLF down by 1.39% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.34% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite declined 0.39%, Hang Seng dipped 0.39%, KOSPI Composite tumbled 0.91% and Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.30%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite rose 0.11%, KLSE Composite added 0.07%, Nikkei 225 surged 2.88% and Straits Times was up by 0.32%.