A soft opening on the cards

The market may open lower on negative Asian stocks. Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 14 points at the opening bell. The market may remain volatile as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month December 2016 series to January 2017 series. The near month December 2016 derivatives contracts expire today, 29 December 2016.

Overseas, Asian stocks followed US equities lower and the yen climbed as investors prepared to close out a volatile year for financial markets. Trading has been thin across the globe during the last week of the year.

US stocks fell yesterday, 28 December 2016 as shares financials and materials declined. In economic news, the Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, declined 2.5% to 107.3 in November from 110 in October, data released by National Association of Realtors showed yesterday, 28 December 2016.

Back home,amid divergent trend, key benchmark indices ended volatile session yesterday, 28 December 2016 almost unchanged with the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, settling with tiny losses and the Nifty 50 index registering miniscule gains. The Sensex fell 2.76 points or 0.01% to settle at 26,210.68, its lowest level since 26 December 2016.

The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 527.06 crore yesterday, 28 December 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 824.84 crore yesterday, 28 December 2016, as per provisional data.

Among corporate news,Reliance Industries (RIL) announced the successful commissioning of the first phase of Para-xylene (PX) plant at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 28 December 2016.

The plant with capacity of 2.2 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) is built with state-of-theart crystallization technology from BP which is highly energy efficient and environment friendly. With the commissioning of this plant, RIL's PX capacity will more than double from 2 MMTPA to 4.2 MMTPA. On commissioning of entire PX capacity, RIL will be the world's second largest PX producer with 9% of global PX capacity and 11% share of global production.

The new PX capacity will add value to the output from refineries and improve the profitability of the Jamnagar complex. PX is the building block for the entire polyester chain. The new capacity will complete the integration within RIL's polyester value chain, leading to improved margins and also strengthen its position in polyester industry globally.

Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL, said the commissioning of the new PX plant marks beginning of the culmination of a series of projects including the refinery off-gas cracker, ethane import project and petcoke gasification. These projects are part of the largest contemporary investment, in excess of Rs 1 lakh crore, in Refining and Petrochemicals sector anywhere in the world. RIL's projects are on schedule and at an advanced stage of mechanical completion. The new PX capacity takes RIL a step closer to being among the top 10 petrochemical players globally, Ambani said.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News