Nifty ends below 8,200 in a choppy session; smallcaps gain 1%

Broader market continued to outperform with Midcap and BSE Smallcap up 0.61% and 1.03%

Benchmark indices recouped early losses to end the day in positive as banking sector rose on hopes of a pickup in credit growth following cuts in lending rates. Positive cues from global markets also aided the sentiment.
 
In a choppy trade, the indices started the day in red with Sensex falling as much as 107 points during early morning trade but later pared losses and gained 124 points. Nifty also settled the day near 8,200.
 
The investors also eyed the 2-day GST Council meet which will started today. The council met representatives of six crucial sectors, including IT, telecom, banking and insurance, to assess the implementation hurdles under the new GST regime.

 

S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 26,643, up 48 points, while Nifty50 ended at 8,192, up 13 points. Broader market continued to outperform the headline indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap up 0.61% and 1.03%, respectively.

"Nifty traded sideways on expected lines and settled on a flat note, tracking mixed domestic cues. Weak core sector data and caution ahead of GST Council meet was weighing on sentiment from the beginning. Also, underperformance from the banking majors added to the pressure at higher levels. However, buying continued in the cash segment, which kept the market breadth strongly positive," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities in a note.

 
The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed over half a percent on positive breadth.
 
Sectors and Stocks
 
Banking stocks pared losses today after yesterday's weakness due to lending rate cut. PNB, Axis Bank, YES Bank and IndusInd Bank closed between 1.5-2.8%.
 
Infosys tanked 2% to Rs 980 at intra-day after Vishal Sikka cautioned in a letter to his employees that the tidal wave of automation and technology-fuelled transformation could make the traditional information technology services obsolete. The stock fell 0.87% at closing.
 
Shares of state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) gained on the bourses after they hiked the prices of subsidised cooking gas, or LPG, along with kerosene and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

 
Indian Oil Corporation gained around 6%, hitting its 52-week high, while HPCL and BPCL ended 3.71% and 2.96% respectively.
 
Power Grid was the top gainer on BSE Sensex, up 2.53% to Rs 187.7 after the company transferred 3.06 crore shares in Power System to government. Other gainers include Axis Bank, Coal India, GAIL and Cipla.

HeroMoto Corp fell 1.3% post disappointing december sales. Other losers included, Bharti Airtel (down 2.96%), Tata Motors (down 1.41%) and Wipro (down 1.20%).
 
Among other stocks, CMI rallied 12% to Rs 163 on the BSE in intra-day trade, extending its previous day’s gain, after the company on Monday announced preferential issue plan to promoters.

 
Mahanagar Gas, Indraprastha Gas, Oil India, Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) are among 21 stocks from the BSE500, Nifty 500 and small-cap index which hit their respective 52-week highs on Tuesday in intra-day trade.
 
Balarampur Chini Mills, Dhampur Sugar and Triveni Engineering & Industries from the sugar sector also hit 52-week highs on hopes of an increase in mills' profitability, following indications of a debt recast by the Ministry of Finance.
 
Other Developments
 
Government will present on February 1 its budget for the 2017/18 financial year starting on April 1, a senior government official said today.

 
The first part of the budget session of parliament will start on January 31 when the government is expected to present the Economic Survey, which sets the scene for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's fourth annual budget, the official who did not wish to be named, said.
 
Meanwhile, Indian bonds rallied, with yields falling to the lowest levels in nearly a month, after the government reduced the amount of bond sales in January and February after a recent surge in inflows into a government-run deposits scheme.
 
The government will sell Rs 66,000 crore in debt in January and February, the central bank said in a statement on Monday or Rs 18,000 rupees less than previously budgeted.

 
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, the first trading day of 2017, buoyed by hopes that a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC members to cut production, which kicked in on Sunday, will drain a global supply glut.
 
Global Markets
 
Global markets marched confidently into 2017 on Tuesday, with Asian stocks extending gains after European shares surged to their highest in a year and the dollar resuming its climb after last week's stumble.
 
Oil, gold and base metal prices also advanced, as signs of solid factory growth in China and Europe gave the global manufacturing sector a solid boost heading into the New Year.

 
Strength in financials and commodity-related stocks continued to underpin European equity markets with Britain's FTSE 100 starting the New Year at a record high on Tuesday.
 
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7% in early deals, climbing to its highest level since December 2015.
 
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to hit a fresh record high of 7,205.21.00 points.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6% as most regional markets reopened after the New Year holiday. It ended 2016 with a 3.7% gain, its best year in four.
 
Japan was closed for an extended New Year holiday.

 
Australian shares were the best performers in the region, closing up 1.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7%.
 
In China, both the CSI 300 index and the Shanghai Composite climbed 1%. China was Asia's worst performing major stock market in 2016 with a11.3% loss in its worst year in five.

(with inputs from Reuters)