Domestic bourses lacked clear direction so far during the trade with key benchmark indices trading with small gains in morning trade after hovering in a small range. At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 36.60 points or 0.13% at 27,274.66. The Nifty 50 index was up 6.85 points or 0.08% at 8,407.20.
Side counters witnessed buying as the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.27% and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.37%, with both these indices outperforming the Sensex. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,315 shares rose and 718 shares declined. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.
After shrugging off the weak trend in Asian stocks and opening on a flat note, the movement of domestic bourses was so far restricted within a small range around the flat line amid lacklustre trade.
Most realty stocks rose on reports the government is looking to provide higher tax incentives on home loans to boost demand and prop up the faltering realty sector that has been further hit by demonetisation in the upcoming Budget 2017-18. DLF (up 3.55%), D B Realty (up 0.91%), Sobha (up 0.27%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.59%), and Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 2.16%) edged higher. Unitech (down 0.45%), Godrej Properties (down 0.53%), and Oberoi Realty (down 1.1%) declined.
NBCC (India) rose 0.8% after the company announced that it has fixed 21 February 2017 as the record date for 1:2 bonus issue of shares. The announcement was made after trading hours on Friday, 13 January 2017.
Meanwhile, real estate industry reportedly has high expectation from the upcoming budget 2016-17. Stakeholders are reportedly demanding that central government gives relaxation in income tax rate, provide clarity on GST, raise house rent allowance (HRA) deduction and announce policies to standardize construction materials in order to uplift the real estate industry.
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Telecom stocks saw a mixed trend. Bharti Airtel (down 0.23%) and Reliance Communications (down 0.8%) declined. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.33%) and Idea Cellular (up 1.16%) gained.
Shares of Bharti Infratel gained 0.63%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
On the macro front, data showed after market hours on Friday, 13 January 2017 that India's exports rose 5.72% to $23.88 billion and imports rose 0.46% to $34.25 billion in December 2016 over December 2015. The trade deficit declined 9.9% to $10.37 billion in December 2016 over December 2015.
Overseas, Asian stocks dropped after the British pound plunged more than 1% on fears of hard exit by UK from the European Union, which Britain voted to leave last June. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was down 1.39%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged 1.03%. UK Prime Minister Theresa May will reportedly address a speech tomorrow, 17 January 2017, in which many investors believe she could spell out an end to her country's participation in European Union's single market. May is also expected to elaborate on the UK's negotiation priorities in a speech.
US stocks rose moderately on Friday, 13 January 2017, on the back of quarterly earnings from some of the country's biggest banks, as the Nasdaq Composite index closed at a record. Markets have been in an updraft since November's presidential election, with the bulk of the gains coming from the financial sector, as investors have bet banks would benefit from deregulation under President-elect Donald Trump's coming administration and an environment that is expected to see rising interest rates. US financial markets will be closed today, 16 January 2017, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In the latest economic data, US retail sales rose 0.6% in December, less than had been expected, while holiday sales were up a better-than-expected 4%.
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