Sensex lower, Nifty closes at 8082; ICICI Bank, SBI, Lupin drag

Equity benchmarks fell for the fifth consecutive session, dragged by banks, oil and pharma stocks. 

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 66.72 points at 26307.98 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 21.95 points to 8082.40. About two shares declined for every share rising on the BSE. 

The US-subsidiary of 8K Miles has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cornerstone Advisors Group LLC for USD 10.25 miilion inclusive of earn-out payments as a combination of cash and stock.

Suresh Venkatachari, Chairman & CEO, 8K Miles said Cornerstone's margins are close to 20 percent and he hopes that the company meets the expectation of 34-35 percent margins after combining with 8K Miles. 

Cornerstone Advisors Group is an executive level healthcare company which advises large hospitals in terms of entire information technology planning which is in the healthcare space or electronic medical record (EMR) selection or even the overall planning of the healthcare direction.

 Venkatachari added that Cornerstone's earnings per share (EPS) will be positive from the first year itself. 

Shares of Visa Steel gained 13.5 percent intraday as it has resumed operations at its DRI plant in Odisha. 

The company has resumed operations at its DRI plant for production of sponge iron and two sub-merged arc furnaces of ferro alloy plant for production of ferro chrome after getting necessary clearances from in State Pollution Control Board, Odisha. With the improvement in raw material availability, the operational performance at Visa Steel had significantly improved during Q2 of FY2016-17. 

The production of ferro chrome has increased from 17,008 MT to 24,274 MT in Q2FY2017, a year-on-year growth of 43 percent, as per company release.

Indices manage to stay in the positive range

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 26387.55 up 12.85 (0.05%) while the Nifty was trading at 8104.20.

Tata Group stocks are being closely watched after Cyrus Mistry announced his resignation from the boards of Tata Motors, Indian Hotels and four other companies. Tata Power is among the top gainers in the trade so far. Tata Motors, Tata Motors DVR, Tata Power, TCS stocks up. 

A total of 11 stocks are at a 52-week high in trade today, while 16 stocks, including Laurus Lab, Tree House and TV Today, have so far touched a new 52-week low.

Out of 1883  stocks traded on the NSE, 784  declined, 727  advanced and 372  remained unchanged today.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading at 12121.49 down by 52.55 points , whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading at 12061.25 up 3.56%.

Asian indices showed mixed results as Nikkei 225 was trading at 19,504.22, and Straits Times at 2,917.85, while Hang Seng  traded in red at 21,736.

Bank of Japan, on expected lines, has kept policy rates unchanged; says economy will witness moderate growth and will persist with asset purchasing till Japan reaches 2 pc inflation.

Strength in US$, rise in bond yields and weakness in emerging markets were the theme of the last 2 months of 2016. Gold prices continued to struggle as coupled with slowdown in India the strength in the US$ is another negative going forward into 2017.

For the first time in nearly 150 years, India surpassed Britain as far as the size of the economy is concerned. India is now the fifth largest economy with US $ 2.30 trillion and the ones ahead are USA, China, Japan and Germany. The fall in the pound coupled with Brexit issues enabled India to overtake the UK GDP much earlier.

Benchmark indices of the US ended on a higher side on Monday although the volumes involved were low, also the market investors bought into underperfoming sectors. With the ongoing political tensions between the US and China, the markets were not heavily impacted as the indices ended the trading day close to their respective all-time highs. 

The INDIA VIX is down 3.79% to 14.2750.
 
Buzzing Stocks:
 
Govt may announce winner of Rs 60,000 cr defence order today. Titagarh Wagon very interesting contender along with Tata Power.
 
Cos to focus: L&T, M&M, Pipavav, TaMo + Bharat Forge, Tata Power + Titagarh wagon.
 
Lupin announced the launch of a generic version of its voriconazole tablets and oral suspension used for the treatment of fungal infections in children.
 
Cipla has received final approval from the US health regulator for lipid regulating Fenofibrate tablets.
 
Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is in talks with Japan's Nippon Steel and Sumitomo MetalCorp and Kobe Steel Ltd for potential technical agreements to help the firm expand its global footprint.
 
The board of directors of Pennar Industries Ltd is evaluating the merger of its subsidiary Pennar Enviro Ltd into Pennar Industries.
 
Stung by fluctuation in price of coking coal, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is desperately seeking an alternative solution to reduce its dependence on imports.
 
The government over the next few days will examine the status of 72 coal blocks allocated either through allotment or auction route to companies like NTPC, JSW Steel, Hindalco and SAIL.
 
Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) has lined up Rs 80 bn additional investment for its Odisha operations. The money will be spent on the addition of a blast furnace to take its Angul steel plant capacity to 6mt, setting up of a cement plant, laying of the slurry pipeline to carry iron ore from mines to the steel plant and setting up of a pellet plant.
 
Divi's Laboratories Limited has chalked out alternate plans to keep the capacity expansion going after the Rs 5 bn greenfield project near Kakinada ran into rough weather, first by the local protests and later by an interim order issued by Hyderabad high court pertaining to the project land. 
 
Glenmark is developing specialty respiratory and dermatology products as a part of its long-term growth strategy.

Sensex opens higher, Nifty holds 8100; ITC leads, HDFC drags

Equity benchmarks started off day on a flat note with positive bias Tuesday, with the Nifty holding 8100 level, supported by ITC and Infosys. HDFC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors were under pressure. 

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 24.51 points at 26399.21 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 6.25 points to 8110.60. 

The Indian rupee has opened higher today at 67.86 per dollar against previous close of 67.87 a dollar. Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank says the dollar index continues to move higher, currently above 103 level, after the hawkish FOMC meeting and some recent geopolitical concerns. The USD-INR pair has also slid from recent highs with continuing portfolio outflows and overall dollar strength, he adds. Raina expects the pair to trade in the 67.60-68/dollar range today. 

The dollar regained some momentum, with the dollar index up at 103 compared with levels around 102 yesterday. The Turkish Lira and Russian Ruble fell to session lows against the greenback on Monday after the Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot by an off-duty police officer in Ankara.

Asian shares traded mixed, with the Nikkei wavering despite the Bank of Japan sounding a positive note on Japan's economic outlook as it kept monetary policy steady. 

Wall Street extended a recent rally on Monday but finished the session short of earlier highs after several people were killed by a truck driven into a Christmas market in Germany.