Positive global cues buoy Indian equities

Mumbai, Jan 3 (IANS) Positive global indices, along with value buying and short covering, buoyed the Indian equities markets on Tuesday.

However, prolonged outflow of funds, coupled with a depreciating rupee, weak domestic infrastructure output growth and caution ahead of the two-day GST (Goods and Services Tax) council meeting to be held later in the evening, arrested the upward trend of the benchmark indices.

The key indices, which opened on a cautious note, swayed into the positive territory during the mid-afternoon trade session. However, profit booking dragged the indices lower to close on a flat note -- marginally in the green.

"Markets ended with modest gains on Tuesday after a weak opening," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"Technically, the Nifty seems to be in consolidation mode after the recent run up. The underlying short term trend of the Nifty nevertheless remains up after moving above the recent highs of 8,100," Jasani added.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched up by 12.75 points or 0.16 per cent to 8,192.25 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,616.92 points, closed at 26,643.24 points -- up 47.79 points or 0.18 per cent from the previous day's close at 26,595.45 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,724.40 points and a low of 26,488.37 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,851 advances and 897 declines.

On Monday, profit booking pulled the Indian equities markets lower. The barometer index was down 31.01 points or 0.12 per cent, while the NSE Nifty fell by 6.30 points or 0.08 per cent.

"The markets witnessed volatile movements as market participants remained cautious ahead of the two-day GST council meeting, which begins later in the day," SMC Global Securities said in a commentary to IANS.

"It could be seen that foreign participants are sitting on the selling side and they are eagerly waiting for the announcements, which the government may announce in its Union Budget 2017-18 scheduled on February 1, before making any fresh buy side positions in the market."

In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 500.49 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrip worth Rs 562.27 crore.

Besides, the Indian rupee weakened by 10 paise to 68.33 against a US dollar from its previous close of 68.23 to a greenback.

According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, volatile USD/INR futures prices brought volatility in the domestic markets.

"IT stocks traded firm while banking, pharma and auto stocks traded with mixed sentiments due to profit booking," Desai added.

"Oil-gas, textile, aviation, media-entertainment and FMCG stocks traded with firm sentiments, while cement and power stocks faced resistance at higher levels."

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE consumer durables stocks surged by 343.68 points, followed by the oil and gas index by 241.18 points, and banking index by 112.73 points.

On the contrary, the S&P BSE automobile index receded by 39.64 points, followed by the telecom index by 17.77 points, and the IT index by 16.45 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: Power Grid, up 2.48 per cent at Rs 188; Axis Bank, up 1.90 per cent at Rs 455.20; Coal India, up 1.53 per cent at Rs 305.30; Cipla, up 1.46 per cent at Rs 574.15; and Gail, up 1.10 per cent at Rs 440.45.

Major Sensex losers were: Bharti Airtel, down 2.36 per cent at Rs 303.65; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.37 per cent at Rs 2,987.35; Tata Motors, down 1.23 per cent at Rs 481.25; Wipro, down 0.86 per cent at Rs 468.60; and Infosys, down 0.69 per cent at Rs 994.65.