Benchmarks make a positive start after a five days fall

The domestic equity markets have made a positive start after falling five days continuously. Though the global cues still remain unsupportive as the US markets closed  on a mixed note overnight, Dow and S&P closed lower Nasdaq managed a close in green, while Asian counterparts showed some amount of recovery in trade after starting in the red and were trading on a mixed note at this point of time. Back Home, sustained buying in key heavyweights was keeping the momentum on a positive side for the benchmark indices, healthcare, metal and oil and gas stocks were witnessing maximum gains in trade, while realty, software and technology were the top losers on the BSE sectoral space, meanwhile the broader indices too were trading in the positive terrain. Key heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was also trading with a gain of more than one percent, other market majors like, ICICI Bank, Hindalco and NTPC too have edged higher in the trade. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,085 shares on the gaining side against 779 shares on the losing side while 59 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19,279.77; about 55 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,224.12, and has touched a high and a low of 19,431.56 and 19,266.32 respectively. The index is currently trading at 19,298.65, up by 74.53 points or 0.39%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 56.42% stocks advancing against 40.51% declines. The broader indices were also trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.05% and 0.25% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, HC up by 0.95%, Metal up by 0.84%, Oil and Gas up by 0.76%, Power up by 0.75% and CD was up by 0.49%, while Realty down by 1.21%, IT down by 0.24% and TECk down by 0.03%, were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.60%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.31%, Reliance Infra up by 1.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.77% and BHEL was up by 1.63%.

DLF down by 2.19%, HDFC Bank down by 1.27%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.98%, Infosys down by 0.95% and L&T by 0.55% were the top losers on the index were.

Meanwhile, both India and Iran expect that an amicable solution to the payments for crude oil imported by the former from the latter will be found during a visit of Indian oil and finance sector officials to Tehran later this week. The two sides reiterated that there has been no gaps in oil supply to India.

'Iran payment is very important for the ministry of petroleum and natural gas and oil companies, including private companies. We would require payments to be channelised through alternative banks which will be suggested by National Iranian Oil Company," Union Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan said on Monday. 'We have on table some banks which have been suggested. We will probably work through them,' he added.

The problem came to forefront when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on December 23 that oil companies will have to settle current account and trade transactions with Iran outside the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), a regional payment arrangement including India as well as Iran. Participants in the ACU settle transactions in either the US dollar or Euro. So far the oil companies on both the sides have failed to find a way out.

Earlier, a temporary solution was proposed by the Iran. It asked India to pay for Iranian crude oil in euros through a German bank based in Hamburg. National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has a euro account with that bank (Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank  - EIH Bank). However, since that bank is also facing sanctions of the US government, Indian oil companies and banks were not very interested in the solution, though it is being kept as a last resort for now. 

Later this week, a delegation comprising officials from the finance and oil ministries as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and representatives of oil companies will be visiting Tehran where both the sides will try to work out a solution that is acceptable to Iran and does not put Indian companies at risk of facing US sanctions either. Though a difficult situation, analysts feel there are some ways and the two sides will try to choose the most sustainable way.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,767.95; about 5 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,762.85, and has touched a high and a low of 5,822.80 and 5,767.95 respectively. The index is currently trading at 5,783.95, up by 21.10 points or 0.37%. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.90%, Sunpharma up by 2.30%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.29%, HCL Tech up by 2.24% and Dr Reddy up by 2.15%.

The top losers of the index were SAIL down by 1.78%, BPCL down by 1.39%, DLF down by 1.14%, HDFC Bank down by 1.03% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.83%.

Asian equity indices were trading on a mixed note; Hang Seng was up 246.61 points or 1.05% to 23,773.87, Jakarta Composite was up 41.66 points or 1.20% to 3,520.21, Straits Times was up 8.49 points or 0.26% to 3,237.76 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 112.16 points or 1.27% to 8,930.04.

On the flip side, Seoul Composite was down 0.37 points or 0.02% to 2,080.44, Nikkei 225 was down 11.41 points or 0.11% to 10,529.63, KLSE Composite was down 3.04 points or 0.19% to 1,560.48 and Shanghai Composite was down 9.57 points or 0.34% to 2,782.81.

Unit-8, 3rd Floor, First Mall, The Mall, Ludhiana-141001, Punjab (INDIA).

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TJzsLEwstCyc7OysHMyctEa0HOxsnEys7A==