Sensex, Nifty to open on a positive note

Investors will be cautious as it attempts previous peak. The decline earlier in the month was triggered by Nifty’s failure to break above the 8,000 levels. For now the cues from global markets are positive. Oil prices moved up sharply taking along with it energy shares. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, and in the process is positive for the year. Dow danced 1.06% higher while Nasdaq gained close to a percent.

This is Christmas season and there isn’t any reason why the market, which has had quite at tumultuous ride for the year should not have a merry time. The movement these days has been bouts of gains and losses. Wednesday’s trade was merry after Tuesday’s fall of around 50 points for the Nifty. Strength in metals, Oil & Gas, power and realty stocks lifted the Nifty above 7850.

The outlook is a happy start. What transpires later in the day ahead of a long Christmas weekend remains to be seen. Despite a dramatic comeback in last two weeks, the index is yet to break past the peak of 7979, hit on 2nd December. Investors will be cautious as it attempts previous peak. The decline earlier in the month was triggered by Nifty’s failure to break above the 8,000 levels. For now the cues from global markets are positive. Oil prices moved up sharply taking along with it energy shares. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, and in the process is positive for the year. Dow danced 1.06% higher while Nasdaq gained close to a percent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday expressed concern about the debt servicing capability of large borrowers, saying that it was affecting the health of the banking sector. In its Financial Stability Report released on Wednesday, the RBI stated that there has been a sharp increase in the large borrowers' share of gross NPAs in the total gross NPAs to 87.4% in September from 78.2% in March.

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha has said that 2016-17 would be a challenging term with headwinds from low farm sector growth, the global slowdown, and implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report and the One Rank One Pension.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. is in advanced talks to sell its cement business for INR 26 billion (US$394 million) and a deal could be announced as soon as this week, according to a foreign news agency.

Shishir Bajaj-led Bajaj group on Wednesday said that it has synchronised the second 660 MW unit of its power plant at Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Gateway Distriparks Ltd., (GDL) has undergone significant changes in its shareholding pattern and board composition, following complete exit of Singapore shareholders from all the Gateway group of companies and its board.

The Government will soon introduce a coal linkage policy to ensure supply of fossil fuel, besides a new tariff policy aimed at boosting regulatory mechanism for discoms and attracting investments.

India Ratings and Research  expects current account deficit (CAD) to come in at 1.0% of GDP in FY16. CAD for 2QFY16 came in at USD8.2bn (1.6% of GDP), sequentially higher than USD6.1bn (1.2% of GDP) in 1QFY16, but lower than USD10.9bn (2.2% of GDP) in 2QFY15. Sequentially higher CAD in 2QFY16 was mainly due to a higher trade deficit USD37.4bn in 2QFY16 than USD34.2bn in 1QFY16.

Idea Cellular announced the launch of its high speed 4G LTE services across all five states of South India - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. In the first phase, Idea’s high speed 4G Network will be available across 75 Towns in Southern India.

Honda Cars India will hike prices of its vehicles across models by up to Rs 16,000 from January, says report.

Two debutants of Dalal Street, Dr Lal Pathlabs and Alkem Laboratories, were on a strong wicket as they clocked smart gains. Dr Lal Path Labs closed with super gains of 52% at Rs 834.50 per share as against an issue price of Rs 550 per share. The intraday high of the share was Rs 843.70 per share. Alkem Labs gained 31 percent ending at Rs 1381 per share on the NSE as against issue price of Rs 1050.