Nifty above 8,200 levels

At 3:19 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,249 up 40 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,204 up 30 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index and BSE Small-cap Index was trading up at 1%.

Power, Bankex, Capital Goods, Healthcare, Realty, Teck indices are the gainers, while Auto, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Metal, Oil and gas indices are the losers,

SBI, Axis Bank, L&T, Coal India, Sun Pharma are among the gainers, whereas GAIL, Tata Motors, ITC, Wipro are losing sheen on BSE.

Japanese annual core consumer inflation slowed in November. Factory output fell and household spending remained weak. Asian markets are lackluster. Nikkei is down while Hang Seng and Shanghai are flat. On Wednesday, Wall Street ended mixed.

The initial public offering of Delhi-based NCML Industries will open on December 29. The price band has been fixed at Rs100-120 a share.

SKS Capital and Research, which had entered into an agreement to buy warrants of MCX Stock Exchange from Financial Technologies India, has withdrawn from the deal.

Corporation Bank has decided to sub-divide each equity share with a face value of Rs. 10 into five equity shares of Rs. 2 each and has fixed January 23, as the record date

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the country cannot wait even if one of the Houses of Parliament "waits indefinitely". Jaitley suggested that the government may go to the extent of calling a joint session if the insurance bill is again blocked in the Upper House in the next session, says report.

Reliance Industries has signed shipping agreements with one of the world’s largest and reputed shipping companies MITSUI O.S.K. LINES, LTD (MOL) for transporting Liquefied Ethane from North America to India.

Reliance Capital Ltd said Japan's Bank Sumitomo Mitsui Trust will acquire an initial 2.77% stake in the company for $58.4 million. The Board of Directors of the Company has approved a proposal to issue and allot 70,00,000 Equity Shares of face value of Rs.10 each at a premium of Rs.530 per share, aggregating to Rs.371 crore to Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited (SMTB) (Preferential Allotment), subject to necessary permissions, sanctions, approvals and applicable SEBI Regulations and other provisions of law and which is subject to approval of the Members of the Company.

Government has raised import tax on crude edible oils and refined oils by 5 percentage points each to protect local farmers from rising imports from Malaysia and Indonesia, according to reports.

Infosys under new CEO Vishal Sikka is building capabilities in the social, mobility, analytics and cloud space, as it has significantly upped its recruitment in this space, says report.

Nifty rebounds, up 13 points

The market have rebounded into the positive zone on the back of sustained buying support in PSU bank and IT stocks.

The Nifty is now up 10 points at 8,183, and the Sensex has added 24 points to 27,185.

The CNX PSU Bank index has jumped 1.3 per cent to 4,226, and the IT index has gained 0.8 per cent at 11,016.

Union Bank of India is the major gainer in the PSU banking space. The stock has zoomed nearly 6 per cent to Rs. 241.

Syndicate Bank has rallied 4.5 per cent to Rs. 128. Allahabad Bank and Andhra Bank have surged 3.8 per cent each to Rs. 130 and Rs. 89, respectively.

Indian Overseas Bank has jumped 3.5 per cent to Rs. 59.55. Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce have added 3 per cent each to Rs. 300 and Rs. 339, respectively.

Tech Mahindra is the top gainer in the IT space, up nearly 2 per cent at Rs. 2,566. HCL Technologies has spurted 1.5 per cent to Rs. 1,564.

CMC, Tata Elxsi and Infosys are also up around a per cent each.

The market breadth has turned marginally positive - out of 1,734 stocks traded on the NSE so far, 764 have advanced and 719 declined.

Tata Motors rolls-out 123 AC buses with Automatic Transmission in Ahmedabad

Tata Motors flagged off 123 new AC buses in Ahmedabad, equipped with Automatic Transmission. These buses are in addition to the order bagged by Tata Motors for 3200 buses under the JnNURM – phase II scheme and are meant to reduce driver fatigue and provide for a superior commuting experience. The automatic transmission buses will also help save on fuel costs, due to efficiencies derived from constant engagement of both engine and transmission.

Vernon Noronha, Vice President, Defence & Government Business, Tata Motors said, “With state-of-the-art capabilities in developing and integrating intelligent world-class electronic vehicular systems, we at Tata Motors work closely with all stakeholders in successfully deploying these technologies across a broad spectrum of commercial vehicles, enabling connectivity, safety, better fuel economy, along with optimal vehicle performance. These air conditioned buses with Automatic Transmission are most suitable for BRTS operations and have been developed for the first time for Janmarg. Automatic transmission in buses will reduce driver fatigue, improve acceleration, manoeuvrability and overall passenger comfort and experience, and more revenue earnings per bus. With this order we are proud to partner Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd., in efficiently and safely running their bus services, with a high degree of reliability and availability.”

With a floor height of 900mm and a length of 12 meters, these buses are fit with electronic display boards and pneumatic door operations, for comfortable commute in an urban transport set-up. A wider passage-way for free movement, large window panes for better visibility, along with lower entry/exit doors, makes these new buses safe and convenient for commuters, also providing easy access for differently-abled and elderly passengers.

The buses are built by Tata Marcopolo and are being operated by private operators.

Tata Motors is the country’s largest bus manufacturer with the most complete range of transit vehicles that meet every need, arising from day-to-day travel. It has continued to be the leader in this segment by not just setting technological benchmarks but also by adapting innovations effectively to suit Indian travel conditions. Tata Motors has also developed a wide variety of buses and coaches that cater to the entire gamut of public transport solutions - from luxurious inter-city travel options to safe transport choices for school going children.

Tata Motors has also developed Electric Hybrid buses and Articulated buses to meet the future transport needs for the envisaged ‘Smart Cities’.

PSU Banks continue to shine

Shares of public-sector banks continue to trade with smart gains in an otherwise lacklustre market on hopes off major upcoming reforms for the sector.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet PSU bankers on January 3, 2015, wherein plans of banking reforms may be discussed among other things.

The CNX PSU Bank index has gained a per cent at 4,213 even as the NSE Nifty is trading a flat note at 8,175.

Union Bank of India is the major gainer in the banking space, up nearly 5 per cent at Rs. 240.

Allahabad Bank has rallied 3.5 per cent to Rs. 129. Syndicate Bank and Indian Overseas Bank have soared 3 per cent each to Rs. 126 and Rs. 59.25, respectively.

Andhra Bank, Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce have advanced around 2.5 per cent each.

All 12 stocks in the PSU index are trading on a positive note.

Sensex, Nifty trade sideways

The BSE Sensex after swinging in a range of near 300-odd points, has been moving sideways in a narrow 80-point range for the last couple of hours.

The Sensex is now down 62 points at 27,147. The NSE Nifty has declined 17 points to 8,157.

Zee Entertainment, ICICI Bank and ITC have slipped 1.2 per cent each to Rs. 376, Rs. 349 and Rs. 367, respectively.

Ambuja Cement, Maruti Suzuki and Axis Bank have declined over a per cent each to Rs. 224, Rs. 3,331 and Rs. 489, respectively.

Tata Steel, Grasim, NMDC and Mahindra & Mahindra are the other prominent losers.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Punjab National Bank and DLF have rallied over a per cent each to Rs. 2,550, Rs. 223 and Rs. 133, respectively.

Bank of Baroda, HCL Technologies and Infosys are the other notable gainers.

The breadth is marginally negative - out of 1,734 stocks traded so far on the NSE, 762 have declined and 700 have advanced.

Top corporate news of the day - December 26, 2014

Sumitomo Mitsui buys 2.8% in Reliance Capital for Rs3.7bn.

Infosys is fast building its capabilities in SMAC as it has significantly up its recruitment in this space.

Government to defer RIIL’s IPO.

RIL signs deal with Mitsui OSK Lines for ethane transportation.

Hind Powerprojects to invest Rs120bn in renewable energy.

Azim Premji’s to invest Rs1.7bn in promoter entity of Future Retail.

BPCL is planning to raise Rs 40bn for expansion of its Kochi refinery and to fund its petrochemicals venture.

A fund managed by JPMorgan Chase is in advanced talks to partner with SpiceJet Ltd's co-founder for a planned $200mn investment into the airline.

IFCI plans to raise Rs7.90bn from non-convertible debentures to fund its business growth.

Torrent Pharma has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Reliance Life Sciences for marketing three biosimilars in the Indian market.

Gujarat State Fertilizers tumbled 3.4%

Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals after surging to a high of Rs. 110 in early morning trade and soon slipped into the negative zone, on reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed restrictions on further purchases of shares of Gujarat State Fertilizers.

Following which, the stock tumbled 6.4 per cent from the day's high to touch a low of Rs. 103.

Now, Gujarat State Fertilizers is down 3.4 per cent at Rs. 105. The counter has registered trades of around 170,000 shares on the BSE so far, as against the two-week daily average volume of 255,000 shares.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex is down 11 points at 27,197.

Top economy news of the day - December 26, 2014

PMO pushes ministries to insurer mechanism for faster clearances by end of March.

PM rules out privatization of railways.

Government to link 55000 villages with mobile network in two years.

The power ministry's decision to nominate state-run Power Grid Corp to implement eight transmission projects worth Rs360bn instead of inviting competitive bids has come as a jolt to private companies.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet state finance ministers today to get their views on the forthcoming budget.

The government has hiked import duty on both crude and refined edible oil by 5%.

Nifty opens above 8,200 levels

At 9:18AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,294 up 85 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,205 up 31 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index and BSE Small-cap Index was trading up at 1%.

Auto, Consumer Durables, Healthcare Metal, Realty, Power, Banking, Capital goods,PSU indices are the losers, while FMCG and Oil and gas indices are the losers,

GAIL, BHEL, COALINDIA,SUNPHARMA,TATASTEEL, Reliance, Hindalco are among the gainers, whereas HDFC Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, HUL are losing sheen on BSE.

Japanese annual core consumer inflation slowed in November. Factory output fell and household spending remained weak. Asian markets are lackluster. Nikkei is down while Hang Seng and Shanghai are flat. On Wednesday, Wall Street ended mixed.

The initial public offering of Delhi-based NCML Industries will open on December 29. The price band has been fixed at Rs100-120 a share.

SKS Capital and Research, which had entered into an agreement to buy warrants of MCX Stock Exchange from Financial Technologies India, has withdrawn from the deal.

Corporation Bank has decided to sub-divide each equity share with a face value of Rs. 10 into five equity shares of Rs. 2 each and has fixed January 23, as the record date

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the country cannot wait even if one of the Houses of Parliament "waits indefinitely". Jaitley suggested that the government may go to the extent of calling a joint session if the insurance bill is again blocked in the Upper House in the next session, says report.

Reliance Industries has signed shipping agreements with one of the world’s largest and reputed shipping companies MITSUI O.S.K. LINES, LTD (MOL) for transporting Liquefied Ethane from North America to India.

Reliance Capital Ltd said Japan's Bank Sumitomo Mitsui Trust will acquire an initial 2.77% stake in the company for $58.4 million. The Board of Directors of the Company has approved a proposal to issue and allot 70,00,000 Equity Shares of face value of Rs.10 each at a premium of Rs.530 per share, aggregating to Rs.371 crore to Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited (SMTB) (Preferential Allotment), subject to necessary permissions, sanctions, approvals and applicable SEBI Regulations and other provisions of law and which is subject to approval of the Members of the Company.

Government has raised import tax on crude edible oils and refined oils by 5 percentage points each to protect local farmers from rising imports from Malaysia and Indonesia, according to reports.

Infosys under new CEO Vishal Sikka is building capabilities in the social, mobility, analytics and cloud space, as it has significantly upped its recruitment in this space, says report.