Sensex flat, Nifty above 8,050; midcap, smallcap outperform

Nifty opened in red but later pared losses to reclaim 8,050, led by gains in Bosch, HCL Tech & TCS

Benchmark indices were trading on a flat to positive note during early morning on Thursday, tracking weak cues from Asian markets, ahead of the expiry of December series futures and options contracts.
 
Nifty opened in red but later pared losses to reclaim its 8,050 levels, led by Bosch, HCL Tech, TCS and  Lupin.

At 11:12 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 26,245, up 34 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 8,051, up 16 points. In broader markets, BSE Midcap rose 0.65% while BSE Smallcap was trading 0.71% higher.

"Nifty formed a short-term bottom near to 7,900 zones but needs to hold above 7,980 zones to continue its bounce-back move towards 8,130 levels while on the downside it has major support at 7,920-7,900 zones,"said brokerage Anand Rathi in a technical note.
 
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, foreign investors sold equities worth Rs 527.06 crore, while domestic investors bought shares worth Rs 824.84 crore.

TOP GAINERS (BSE)

COMPANY	Price (Rs)	CHG(%)
IFCI	27.5	11.34
HIMATSING. SEIDE	309.5	8.81
JAI CORP	71.8	6.92
BOMBAY BURMAH	531	5.34
REPCO HOME FIN	554	4.35

At 10:40am


Sectors and Stocks

TCS, Axis Bank, Lupin, Asian Paints and Wipro were the top gainers at BSE Sensex, up between 0.60-1% while HeroMoto Corp, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports and GAIL were the biggest laggards.

FMCG, Auto and telecom sectors were trading in red on BSE Sensex whereas IT and oil & gas indices were the top sectoral gainers. 

Among other stocks, IFCI has surged nearly 12% to Rs 27.50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the India’s biggest bourse filed its draft prospectus for a Rs 10,000-crore Initial Public Offer (IPO) of equity with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

JMC Projects rallied 15% to Rs 240 on the BSE in intra-day trade after the company said it has secured new orders worth over Rs 1,457 crore.

Rupee weakens
 
Rupee continued to trade weak on Thursday after dropping 18 paise to settle at a four-week low of 68.24 in yesterday’s session. Month-end dollar demand from importers coupled with sustained foreign capital outflows led to the drop in the currency.
 
Besides, strengthening of the dollar against key rivals in the overseas market also added to the pressure, a forex dealer told PTI.
 
The rupee has lost 50 paise, or 0.74 per cent, against the dollar in two days.
 
Market-wide F&O rollovers at 64%
 
Market-wide rollovers so far stand at 64% which is higher compared to average rollovers of 56% (last three series). Market-wide futures open interest (OI) stands at Rs 98,000 crore compared with an OI of Rs 96,000 crore on the last day of October expiry. Roll levels continued to stay lower at nearly 36-37 bps (cost to long roller) on account of short aggression.
 
Nifty rollovers stand at nearly 56% which is in line compared to the average rollovers of 49% (the last three series). Stock futures rollovers have been higher at 67% as against Nifty rollovers at 56%. With lower levels available in the SGX Nifty (20 points versus 25 points on the NSE Nifty), higher rollovers (80%) have been seen on SGX Nifty.
 
Nifty futures roll cost went down further to 25 points as against 27 points yesterday. Nifty futures hold an OI of 23.86 million shares (Rs 19,200 crore) as compared to 22.75 million shares (Rs 18,300 crore) on the last day of November expiry. Around 15,680 Nifty contracts were rolled, while nearly 20,640 contracts were added in the next series.
 
NSE files papers for mega IPO
 
NSE filed its draft prospectus for a Rs 10,000-crore Initial Public Offer (IPO) with market regulator Sebi for what could be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in six years.
 
It will be an Offer for Sale (OFS), of 111.4 million equity shares, 22.5% of the exchange’s post offer paid-up equity capital.
 
At an expected valuation of Rs 40,000-45,000 crore, the issue size could be Rs 9,000-10,125 crore, the highest since the Coal India IPO of Rs 15,000 crore in 2010.
 
Demonetisation drive ends tomorrow
 
PM Modi’s 50-day demonetisation drive ends on tomorrow (Dec 30) and there are expectations of tax sops from the government to boost the economy.
 
Global Markets
 
Asian shares slipped on Thursday after Wall Street suffered a mild setback after weeks of gains, while the dollar faded against the yen in typical year-end profit taking.
 
Japan's Nikkei lost 1% as the yen firmed, edging away from its recent one-year top. Australia's main index eased 0.1%, having touched a 17-month peak the previous day.
 
Moves were modest across the region with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off just 0.05%. Australia's main index eased 0.4%, having touched a 17-month peak the previous day.
 
Wall Street saw a pullback in overnight trade in a broad decline triggered in part by a sharp drop in home re-sales. Contracts to buy previously-owned US homes fell in November to their lowest level in nearly a year, a sign that rising interest rates could be weighing on the housing market. The Dow fell 0.56%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.84% and the Nasdaq 0.89%.
 
(With inputs from Reuters)