Sensex, Nifty in red; ONGC up 3%

The Indian equity markets climbed for a second day shrugging off a weak trade in Asian equities as buying by domestic funds countered the relentless selling by foreign institutional investors. Nifty50 hit 8,300 for the first time since November 11. The Nifty Bank rises above 200-DMA of 18,215.

At 12:30 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26873 down mere five points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,272 down three points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.28% at 12,391, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.02% at 12,496.

ONGC, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy's and Infratel are among the gainers, whereas Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys and Wipro are losing sheen on NSE.

A total of 25 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while five stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Out of 1,901 stocks traded on the NSE, 831 declined,724 advanced and 3446 remained unchanged today.

Some buying is observed in pharma, banking, metal, auto and financial services sectors while IT, FMCG and realty stocks are showing weakness on NSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 1.49% at 14.82.

Sensex, Nifty trade flat; Tech Mahindra falls 4%

The Indian equity markets climbed for a second day shrugging off a weak trade in Asian equities as buying by domestic funds countered the relentless selling by foreign institutional investors. Nifty50 hit 8,300 for the first time since November 11. The Nifty Bank rises above 200-DMA of 18,215.

At 9:39 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26,977 up 99 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,295 up 22 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.65% at 12,436, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.52% at 12,559.

Yes Bank, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, GAIL and Hero MotoCorp are among the gainers, whereas HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys and Grasim are losing sheen on NSE.

A total of 20 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while four stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Out of 1,887 stocks traded on the NSE, 436 declined, 978 advanced and 446 remained unchanged today.

Some buying is observed in pharma, banking, FMCG and financial services sectors while IT stock is showing weakness on NSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 0.54% at 14.96.

YES BANK LTD is currently trading at Rs 1242, up by Rs 32.3 or 2.67% from its previous closing of Rs 1209.7 on the BSE.

TECH MAHINDRA LTD is currently trading at Rs 467, down by Rs 21.3 or 4.36% from its previous closing of Rs 488.3 on the BSE.

The BSE IT index cracked down by 2% or192 points at 9,946 as against the previous close of 10,138. IT stocks are down for the second straight session, down over 200 points on NSE.

The BSE IT index opened at 10,094 and hits a high of 10,130 and a low of 9,911.

Two US Congressmen have reintroduced a bill to curb the use of H-1B visas, on which the Indian IT sector is particularly dependent, the first salvo in the battle against outsourcing that is expected under the watch of President-elect Donald Trump. The new bill would require workers on the H-1B visa pay a minimum of $ 100,000, up from $ 60,000 currently. The bill also removes the Master's degree exemption to the cap on the number of visas available, as per media reports.

HCL TECHNOLOGY LTD. is currently trading at Rs 816, down by Rs 28.1 or 3.33% from its previous closing of Rs 844.1 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 834 and has touched a high and low of Rs 840 and Rs 816 respectively. So far 691881(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs 119119.22 crore.

JUST DAIL LTD is currently trading at Rs 386.9, down by Rs 7.1 or 1.8% from its previous closing of Rs 394 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 397.8 and has touched a high and low of Rs 405 and Rs 381.9 respectively. So far 3801199 (NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs 2780.28 crore.

MINDTREE LTD  is currently trading at Rs 509.25, down by Rs 14.3 or 2.73% from its previous closing of Rs 523.55 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 523.15 and has touched a high and low of Rs 523.15 and Rs 508.1 respectively. So far 662646 (NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs 8795.23 crore.

SPICEJET gained 1.1%. The airline company is poised to order at least 92 Boeing Co. 737 jetliners as the carrier plots rapid expansion.

PIRAMAL ENTERPRISES zoomed 2.4% on the BSE. Piramal Finance, a subsidiary of Piramal Enterprises, said it plans to foray into housing finance business. In line with the company's growth plans, Piramal Finance will now make an application to the National Housing Bank for incorporating a housing finance company. This has been approved by the company's board on January 5.

WOCKHARDT climbed 7%. Wockhardsaid German regulator has issued European Union Good Manufacturing Practice certificate to the company's Ankaleshwar facility in Gujarat.

CHARTERED LOGISTICS

 inched up 0.4%. The company registered net profit of Rs 4 crore, up 50%, against Rs 2.74 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

GM BEWARIES dropped 3.4%. The company reported 36% decline in net profit at Rs 10 crore for the quarter ended December 30, 2016. It had posted a net profit of Rs 15.6 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

SAGAR CEMENTS jumped 3.5%. South India based, large cap, cement manufacturing company Sagar Cement's consolidated data shows that for the month of December 2016, the total cement sales was negligibly down by 0.3% as compared to sales during December 2015.

Asian indices ex Japan were all trading in the green as emerging markets are starting the New Year in fine fettle as proxy to weakness to US$ with the Trump rally seeing profit booking. The US$ weakened sharply to near November 8th levels & in tandem we saw bond yields also fall to 2.36% levels last seen around the US election results.