Indian markets trade higher buoyed by firm Asian cues

Indian equity benchmarks, extending previous session rally, are trading in the positive terrain in early deals on Tuesday buoyed by firm Asian cues. All the Asian equity indices were trading higher at this point of time after Chinese central bank has injected emergency funding support to commercial banks in order to cater to rising demand for cash ahead of the Chinese New Year. Moreover, the Japanese Nikkei was trading higher for the first time in four sessions, up by around one and a half percent, as a weaker yen boosted stocks of exporters as well as automakers.

Back home, rally in rate sensitive counters too supported the sentiments amid renewed expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will maintain status quo on interest rates when it meets to review its monetary policy on January 28. Stocks related to textile sector like, Arvind, Alok Industries, Vardhman Textile, Trident etc. edged higher as the government is setting up a $60 billion target for the next financial year, up by over 30% from the current financial year. Some support also came in after Indian rupee firmed up against the US dollar in early trades and was up at Rs 61.47 per dollar as compared with the previous close of Rs 61.62 per dollar.

On the sectoral front, banking witnessed the maximum gains in trade followed by auto and capital goods, while software, technology and oil and gas remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading with traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 927 shares on the gaining side against 469 shares on the losing side while 83 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 21237.96; about 32 points higher compared to its previous closing of 21205.05, and touched a high and a low of 21286.53 and 21204.82 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 21278.39, up by 73.34 points or 0.35%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 62.68% stocks advancing against 31.71% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.58% and Small cap gained 0.45%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 1.23%, Auto up by 1.12%, Capital Goods up by 1.06%, Metal up by 1.01% and Realty up by 0.64%, while IT down by 0.63%, Teck down by 0.45% and Oil & Gas down by 0.16% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 2.02%, Tata Motors up by 1.95%, ICICI Bank up by 1.62%, Tata Steel up by 1.61% and L&T up by 1.35%. On the flip side, TCS was down by 1.21%, Coal India was down by 1.00%, BHEL was down by 0.75%, Sun Pharma was down by 0.69% and  Infosys was down by 0.53% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has proposed allowing subscribers of National Pension System (NPS) to withdraw up to 25 per cent of accumulated funds. The PFRDA has now sought public comments on draft guidelines till February 15.

As per the proposal guidelines, the withdrawal amount will be treated as partial withdrawal and will use for meeting medical treatment expenses, higher education of children, marriage of daughters and house purchase. However, partial withdrawal is allowed only after 10 years of contribution by the subscriber. Furthermore, the subscriber cannot withdraw more than 25 per cent of the contribution made by them. Presently, partial withdrawals are not permitted and NPS subscriber had to completely exit the scheme for withdrawal before maturity. Referring to frequency of withdrawal, the proposal noted that the subscriber will be allowed to withdraw for maximum 3 times and there should be a gap of at least 5 years between two withdrawals.

The National Pension System (NPS) is a defined contribution based pension system launched by Government of India (GoI) with effect from 1 January 2004. The scheme is a long-term, retirement savings product that accumulates and generates maximum pension wealth. NPS is mandatory for all government employees who joined services after April, 2004 and is also open to private sector.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,320.15; about 16 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,303.95, and has touched a high and a low of 6,328.80 and 6,304.50 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,323.55, up by 19.60 points or 0.31%. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 2.71%, SSLT up by 2.14%, Tata Motors up by 2.12%, PNB up by 1.71% and Tata Steel up by 1.67%. On the flip side, Asian Paint down by 2.96%, TCS down by 1.16%, BHEL down by 1.06%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.06% and Coal India down by 1.00% were the top losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 12.71 points or 0.64% to 2,003.96, Hang Seng surged 129.84 points or 0.57% to 23,058.79, Jakarta Composite increased 15.21 points or 0.34% to 4,446.78, KLSE Composite strengthened 8.51 points or 0.47% to 1,816.10, Nikkei 225 soared 209.26 points or 1.34% to 15,850.94, Straits Times jumped 11.30 points or 0.36% to 3,140.09, Seoul Composite added 8.69 points or 0.44% to 1,962.47 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 4.22 points or 0.05% to 8,625.78.