Sensex ends at fresh closing high, Nifty below 10,850; banks lead

All that happened in the markets today

9:23 AM

Nifty Bank rises as Govt cuts extra loans to Rs 200 bn

9:22 AM

Sectoral Trend

9:20 AM

Top Sensex gainers and losers

9:19 AM

Broader Markets

Broader markets were in line with the benchmark indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices up 0.7% and 0.6% respectively

9:17 AM

Markets at open

Benchmark indices are likely to open positive following Asian stocks, that were near record highs on Thursday. At 9:17 am the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 34,345 up 263 points while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,854 up 65 points

9:11 AM

21 companies to report results today

 

As many as 21 companies are likely to report their Q3 numbers today including Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, DB Corp, Mastek, Yes Bank, and UltraTech Cement.

9:08 AM

Newgen Software's Rs 4.25-billion IPO gets 70% subscription on Day 2

 

The initial public offer of IT firm Newgen Software Technologies was subscribed 70 per cent on the second day of its listing today.

 

The IPO, which aims to raise Rs 4.25 billion, received bids for 85.54 lakh shares against the total issue size of over 12.2 million scrips, registering a subscription of 70 per cent, data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

 

The portion reserved for retail investors was subscribed 1.33 times, while that for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) witnessed a subscription of 10 per cent. READ MORE

9:02 AM

Amber Enterprises Rs 6-bn IPO fully subscribed on first day of bidding

 

Amber Enterprises' Rs 6 billion initial public offering was fully subscribed on the first day of its bidding on Wednesday.

 

The IPO received bids for 5.09 million shares against the total issue size of 4.92 million scrips, registering a subscription of 1.03 times, data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

 

The company had raised Rs 1.79 billion from anchor investors yesterday. READ MORE

8:54 AM

Bitcoin slumps below $10,000

 

Bitcoin skidded below $10,000 on Wednesday, halving in value from its peak price, with investors gripped by fears regulators could clamp down on the volatile cryptocurrency that sky-rocketed last year.

8:49 AM

Centre mulls permitting 100% foreign investment in private banks

 

The Union government is holding talks to increase foreign investment limits in private sector banks to 100%, from 74% at present. It is also considering a hike in the foreign investment cap for public sector banks (PSBs), from 20% to 49%, a top government official said.

 

“The finance ministry has suggested it (hiking foreign direct investment ceiling). We are formulating a response.

 

According to the government’s policy, foreign investors — foreign direct investment, foreign institutional investors, and non-resident Indians combined — can invest up to 74% of paid-up capital in private sector banks. Up to 49% foreign investment is allowed under the automatic route; such investments between 49 and 74% require the government’s nod under the present norms. READ MORE

8:44 AM

Govt cuts extra loans to Rs 200 bn, FY18 fiscal deficit could reach 3.4%

 

The government has announced that it is reducing additional borrowing to Rs 200.00 billion from Rs 500.00 billion earlier, in the current financial year (FY18), signalling to markets and experts about the Centre’s commitment to fiscal consolidation.

 

But even then, the fiscal deficit may reach up to 3.4% of gross domestic product (GDP), higher than the 3.2% pegged in the Budget for 2017-18.

 

This reduction in borrowing largely came because the government expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to transfer to it a higher-than-anticipated surplus in FY18, a few senior government sources have confirmed independently to Business Standard. READ MORE

8:43 AM

Direct tax mop-up jumps 19% this fiscal

 

Direct tax collections during the first nine-and-a-half months of the current fiscal have risen by 18.7% to Rs 6.89 lakh crore, the tax department said on Wednesday.

 

The collections till January 15, 2018 represent over 70% of the Rs 9.8 lakh crore revenue target from direct taxes, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

8:41 AM

SGX Nifty

 

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India, a rise of 34.50 points or 0.32%.

8:41 AM

Asia stocks near record highs

 

Asian stocks were near record highs on Thursday, with a rally by Wall Street supporting bullish investor sentiment, while the dollar pulled back from three-year lows as the euro’s recent rally lost steam.

 

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.16% higher at 595.53, near the previous day’s record high of 595.80.

 

Australian stocks rose 0.2%, South Korea's KOSPI added 0.6% and Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.9% to reach its highest level since late 1991.

8:40 AM

US markets end higher on earnings optimism

 

US stocks jumped on Wednesday and the Dow closed above 26,000 for the first time as investors’ expectations for higher earnings lifted stocks across sectors.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 322.79 points, or 1.25%, to 26,115.65, the S&P 500 gained 26.14 points, or 0.94%, to 2,802.56 and the Nasdaq Composite added 74.59 points, or 1.03%, to 7,298.28.