Mumbai, India (BBN)-The Sensex and Nifty were trading flat as participants were yet to return to active trading after the holiday week.
At 1.20 pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 13.52 points or 0.05 per cent at 26,581.93 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 7.8 points or 0.1 per cent at 8,187.30, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index gained the most by 2.66 per cent, oil & gas 1.8 per cent, PSU 1.18per cent and power 0.73 per cent.
On the other hand, IT index was down 0.47 per cent, TECk 0.45 per cent, auto 0.29 per cent and realty 0.03 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Power Grid (+2.21 per cent), GAIL (+1.37 per cent), Axis Bank (+1.18 per cent), ITC (+1.1 per cent) and Coal India (+1.3 per cent), while the major losers were Infosys (-1.03 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (-0.88 per cent), Tata Steel (-0.73 per cent), Bharti Airtel (-0.56 per cent) and HDFC Bank (-0.53 per cent).
Domestic shares edged up as banks recovered from the previous session’s losses on hopes of a pick-up in credit growth following cuts in lending rates.
However, gains were limited as data released late on Monday showed India’s annual infrastructure output growth slowed to 4.9 per cent in November, compared with 6.6 per cent in the previous month, as crude oil and natural gas production declined.
Indian sovereign bonds were headed for a fifth session of gains on signs of better-off fiscal situation following the government’s move to curtail its market borrowing for the rest of the financial year.
India narrowed its weekly borrowings for the rest of the financial year by shaving Rs. 3,000 crore each from the scheduled six weekly bond auctions until February 10, the Reserve Bank of India had said late on Monday.
“With focus on the upcoming budget, markets are expected to be rangebound with a slight upward bias, helped by a pre-budget positive sentiment,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Global markets marched confidently into 2017 on Tuesday, with Asian stocks extending gains after European shares surged to their highest in a year, while the dollar resumed its climb after last week’s stumble.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 per cent as most regional markets reopened after the New Year holiday. It ended 2016 with a 3.7 per cent gain, its best year in four.
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