Sensex, Nifty remain strong; Pharma, Banking stocks rally

The Indian stock markets climbed for a second day tracking a positive trade in Asian markets amid thin volumes led by automakers and information technology companies. Nifty50 hits 8,050 level.

At 12:21 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX  is trading at 26,375 up 161  points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,068 up 36 points. Today, the start of the penultimate session of the F&O series expiry is likely to be in green and more short covering can be seen ahead of the series expiry. 

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 1.28% at 11,853, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 1.41% at 11,886.

Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, Zee, Wipro and Bosch are among the gainers, whereas Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Tata Motors, L&T and BPCL are losing sheen on NSE

A total of two stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while nine stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Out of 1,836 stocks traded on the NSE, 410 declined, 968 advanced and 458 remained unchanged today.

Some buying is observed in industrial,pharma, financial services, oil & gas, auto, FMCG, IT and teck sectors while realty and banking are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 0.24% at 15.0450.

The Indian rupee opened at 3-week low against US Dollar. It opened lower by three paise on Wednesday at 68.10 per dollar versus previous close of 68.07/$.

Yuan remains under pressure, with PBOC setting the reference rate at 6.9495 against US dollar, when compared with 6.9462 earlier.

Gold prices moved higher, helped by dull Japanese inflation numbers and an impasse over re-capitalisation of the Italian third largest bank. In Japan, core CPI for November contracted by 0.4% on yoy basis, the ninth consecutive decline. This clearly shows that the economy is still deprived of the impetus to attain BOJ’s inflation target rate of 2%. Meanwhile, Japanese household spending during November also witnessed an annual contraction of 1.5%. In regard with the Italian banking situation, ECB stated that Italy’s Monte dei Paachi di Siena has a capital shortfall of 8.8bn euros, larger than the estimated amount of 6.5bn euros by Italian regulators.

Most Asian indices opened in the green after positive cues from US indices in low volume trade improved sentiment. Rise in oil, bond yields, US $ and equities in developed markets are the key themes to look out for in early 2017. Value buying is seen in most emerging markets with the Russian index being the clear favorite on the back of rebound in energy stocks.    

The market took off with confidence on Tuesday as if many worries had evaporated overnight. The clarification by the finance minister and hints of a lower tax regime may have propped up sentiment. Besides, the adjustments ahead of the F&O expiry were also at play.  Market-wide rollover of F&O contracts are on the higher side compared to the last three months. Meanwhile, foreign investors have taken out of India ~$10 billion in the last two months. The debate is on whether it has more to do with a higher interest rate regime in the US or lower growth expectations in India post the demonetization drive.

Expectations are running high that the election of Trump as President will boost business conditions and the job market. Japan, however, continues to struggle with core inflation falling for the ninth month in a row in November.