Nifty holds 8,250 amid choppy trades; Smallcap outperforms

Benchmark indices were trading on a flat to positive note tracking mixed cues from global peers after ECB unexpectedly reduced its monthly asset buys but pledged to keep its quantitative easing (QE) programme beyond 2017, if needed.
 
Nifty comfortably maintained its crucial 8250 levels in today’s session led by gains in ITC, Bank of Baroda, Zee and SBI.
 
By 14:50 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 86 points at 26,780 and the Nifty50 gained 19 points at 8,265.  In broader markets, BSE Midcap gained 0.21% while BSE small cap was up 0.73%.
 

Banking sector gained after RBI reversed its order forcing lenders to surrender all their extra cash and place it under the cash reserve ratio.

 
On BSE Bankex, all banking stocks were trading in green. Bank of Baroda, SBI, PNB, ICICI Bank were the top gainers.
 
Shares of public sector undertaking (PSU) banks were trading higher by up to 4% on NSE. State Bank of India (SBI), Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India and IDBI Bank were up between 1% and 4% on the NSE.
 
The Nifty IT index rose for a second straight session, gaining as much as 1.2%, led by Infosys and Tech Mahindra while BSE IT gained 0.86%.
 
ITC was the top gainers on BSE Sensex, up 2.25%. Other gainers included ONGC, Infosys, RIL and Sun Pharma.

 
Auto sector was trading in red after disappointing auto sales numbers post demonetisation move by the Modi government. Bajaj Auto was the biggest laggard on BSE Sensex, down 1.87%. M&M and Hero Moto were also down more than 1%.
Global sentiment was also buoyed after Wall Street hit record highs on Thursday and after the ECB extended it asset-buying programme for a longer period than many analysts had expected, though it trimmed the size of its purchase.
 
Asian shares, however, edged down on Friday with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipping 0.3%.
 
Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 was up 1.3% in afternoon trading, up 3.1% for the week in which the dollar gained 0.9% against the yen.

(with agency inputs)