Local stocks once again regained strength in early afternoon trade. At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 104.47 points or 0.29% at 36,451.55. The Nifty 50 index was up 42.70 points or 0.39% at 10,951.40. Shares of index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC gained. IT stocks dropped. Today's upmove on the bourses was supported by an overnight slump in global crude oil prices.
Asian stocks were mixed ahead of the outcome of the US Fed monetary policy meeting. Domestic stocks drifted higher in early trade, extending their prior six-day rising trend, boosted by an overnight slump in global crude oil prices. Stocks hovered in small range in morning trade. Key indices trimmed gains in mid-morning trade.
Oil prices slumped over 5% on Tuesday in heavy trade due to fears of oversupply and deteriorating demand. India imports majority of its crude requirements and a decline in crude eases concerns on fiscal deficit, inflation and gives more room for the government to boost growth through spending on infrastructure.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.47%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.07%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1557 shares rose and 789 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged.
Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC gained 1.13% to Rs 1,975.15
IT stocks dropped. TCS (down 1.19%), Infosys (down 1.97%), Wipro (down 0.42%), HCL Technologies (down 2.68%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.09%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.75%), MindTree (down 1.21%), Hexaware Technologies (down 1.91%) and Mphasis (down 0.79%) declined.
Piramal Enterprises rose 3.77% to Rs 2265.55. Piramal Enterprises announced that its board approved allotment of 52,440 equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each at a conversion premium of Rs 2688 per share pursuant to optional conversion of 1311 compulsorily convertible debentures (CCDs) of face value of Rs 1,07,600 each aggregating to Rs 14,10,63,600. These equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and National Stock Exchange of India. The committee also approved payment of pro-rata interest to these CCD holders in accordance with the placement document dated 17 October 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 18 December 2018.
In a separate announcement, the company said that its board will meet on 21 December 2018 to consider and approve the issue of secured non convertible debentures (NCDs) of up to Rs 3000 crore on private placement basis.
On the macro front, on a review of the evolving liquidity conditions, RBI has decided to scale up the amounts to be purchased in the remaining two Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions scheduled in December 2018 to Rs 15000 crore each. Consequently, the total injection of durable liquidity for the month of December 2018 would amount to Rs 50000 crore.
Further, based on an assessment of the durable liquidity needs going forward, RBI has decided to conduct purchase of Government Securities under OMOs for an aggregate amount of Rs 50000 crore in the month of January 2019. The operations will be conducted through five auctions of Rs 10000 crore each.
The liquidity conditions will continue to be monitored and depending on the assessment, RBI will consider similar quantum of OMO purchases until end of March 2019. The exact calibration of the quantum of OMO would depend on sustained changes in the behaviour of currency in circulation, the magnitude of sterilisation operations for RBI's forex operations and other relevant factors.
Overseas, Asian stocks were trading mixed as investors braced for Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy decision against the backdrop of recent turmoil in global markets. On Wednesday, Japan reported that its trade balance in November was a deficit of 737.3 billion yen, from 450.1 billion yen in the previous month. This is its fourth deficit in last five months. The country's exports broadly slowed, partly due to weakening demand from China. Japanese exports rose 0.1% from a year earlier, as compared to October's 8.2% gain.
US stocks nudged higher on Tuesday in a volatile day as technology and consumer-focused companies climbed.
The Federal Reserve wraps up its final policy meeting of 2018 on Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to raise its short-term interest rate by a modest quarter-point to a range of 2.25% to 2.5%. Investors are closely watching the Federal Reserve monetary policy guidance for 2019. The central bank forecasts three more rate hikes in 2019, but softer global growth could cause a shift in its hawkish stance. The Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision is due Thursday, followed by a briefing from Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. A Bank of England decision is also due on Thursday.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
