Sensex, Nifty remain near neutral lines

Indian equity benchmarks continued to hang around neutral lines in early morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding marginal gains, amid positive cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were positive amid a private report stating that global investors are bullish on Indian equities market in spite of the 86 per cent premium it commands over emerging market peers and on the back of a 17 per cent outperformance so far this year. Besides, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Union government has saved Rs 2,00,000 crore by using technology as systems like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) stopped leakages.

However, traders got cautious as capital markets regulator Sebi barred five brokerage houses for up to six months from making fresh applications seeking registration as commodity brokers as they failed to meet 'fit and proper' criteria in the NSEL case. The affected brokerage houses include India Infoline Commodities, Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade (banned for 6 months each), and Phillip Commodities and Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker (for 3 months each).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green even after the manufacturing sector in China continued to contract in November, and at a faster pace, with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.0. That missed expectations for a reading of 49.0 and was down from 49.2 in October. It also moved further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The report also showed that the non-manufacturing PMI fell to 46.7 from 48.7 in October, while the general PMI dropped to 47.1 from 49.0.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62734.37, up by 52.53 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 62648.38 and 62865.74. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.34%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.58%, Metal up by 1.52%, Auto up by 0.61%, Industrials up by 0.45% and Utilities up by 0.38%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.37%, Bankex down by 0.30%, PSU down by 0.27%, IT down by 0.17% and Healthcare down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.24%, Tata Steel up by 1.13%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 0.92% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.81%. On the flip side, SBI down by 0.93%, Indusind Bank down by 0.92%, Axis Bank down by 0.71%, Sun Pharma down by 0.62% and Infosys down by 0.56% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has said that the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UAE is giving duty free access to the garment sector and it will help increase share of domestic exports in that country.

Chairman Fair and Exhibitions AEPC Ashok Rajani said India is the second largest supplier of ready-made garments to the UAE after China. The UAE has traditionally been the topmost trading partner for Indian garment exports. With signing of the UAE-India CEPA agreement giving duty free access to Indian garment exports, this share is expected to increase further. CEPA stands for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Elaborating on the strengths of the garment industry, Rajani said after having established itself in traditional garments, the Indian apparel industry has now moved on to diversifying itself into newer areas of MMF garments with a technical textiles segment worth $16 billion with 6 per cent share of the global market.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18644.70, up by 26.65 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 18616.55 and 18679.55. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.96%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.46%, Grasim Industries up by 1.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.34% and JSW Steel up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.47%, Indusind Bank down by 0.99%, SBI down by 0.94%, Axis Bank down by 0.68% and Infosys down by 0.65% were the top losers on Nifty.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 169.91 points or 1.16% to 14,879.55, Jakarta Composite soared 60.79 points or 0.87% to 7,072.86, Hang Seng increased 58.27 points or 0.32% to 18,262.95, KOSPI rose 39.14 points or 1.61% to 2,472.53, Straits Times advanced 2.52 points or 0.08% to 3,278.88, while Shanghai Composite declined 9.22 points or 0.29% to 3,140.53 and Nikkei 225 slipped 58.85 points or 0.21% to 27,968.99.