Benchmarks further pare gains

Key barometers further pared gains in afternoon trade. At 13:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 166.88 points or 0.46% at 36,361.98. The Nifty 50 index was up 42.90 points or 0.40% at 10,892.70. The Nifty was trading below 10,900 mark after briefly crossing that level in early trade.

Indices opened higher and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Indices trimmed gains in mid-morning trade. After hovering in a narrow range in early afternoon trade, indices further pared gains in afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.20%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.21%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 988 shares rose and 1300 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged.

Bharti Airtel (up 2.25%), HCL Technologies (up 2.12%), Axis Bank (up 1.29%), Tata Motors (up 1.25%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.23%) and ONGC (up 1.2%), were the major Sensex gainers.

Hero MotoCorp (down 2.15%), Asian Paints (down 1.52%), ICICI Bank (down 1.4%), Infosys (down 0.42%), Tata Steel (down 0.26%) and NTPC (down 0.18%), were the major Sensex losers.

Engineering and construction major L&T was up 0.80% ahead of December quarter earnings.

Car major Maruti Suzuki India was up 0.06% ahead of its Q3 results later today, 25 January 2019.

Yes Bank rose 6.36%, extending yesterday's sharp gains triggered by RBI approval to name Ravneet Singh Gill as MD & CEO of the private sector bank. Shares of Yes Bank jumped 8.39% to end at Rs 213.85 yesterday, 24 January 2019.

Yes Bank said that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has vide its letter dated 23 January 2019 approved the appointment of Ravneet Gill as the MD & CEO of Yes Bank for a period of 3 years from the date of joining. Gill is expected to join the bank latest by 1 March 2019. The appointment will be subject to the approval of shareholders at the ensuing annual general meeting of the bank to be held in June 2019.

The board of directors of Yes Bank have scheduled a special board meeting to be held on Tuesday, 29 January 2019, and will finalize on the delegation of powers for transition management in the interim period commencing from 1 February 2019 until Ravneet Gill assumes office.

Further, Yes Bank announced the appointment of Mr. Maheswar Sahu and Mr. Anil Jaggia as additional directors (independent) with effect from 24 January 2019 for a period of 5 years. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 24 January 2019.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday, 25 January 2019, reportedly upheld the constitutional validity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). A bench headed by Justice R.F. Nariman said they have upheld the constitutional validity "in its entirety". The court, however, said that related parties in the Act should mean a person connected with the business. The bench disposed of a batch of pleas filed by companies challenging various provisions of the IBC, media reports added.

Overseas, stocks in Europe and Asia gained Friday despite fresh overnight uncertainties about US-China trade negotiations. In Japan, core consumer prices in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, rose 1.1% in January from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to maintain interest rates at 0% as expected on Thursday, but President Mario Draghi warned that growth risks in the region had shifted to the downside due to a number of external factors.

In US, stocks closed mostly higher Thursday as investors digested a tide of corporate earnings while monitoring US-China trade talks and a long-running US government shutdown -- all amid worries over the health of the global economy.

On the US data front, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell below 200,000 for the first time in nearly 50 years, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Further, the Conference Board's leading economic index fell 0.1% in December.

Private-sector activity continued to expand in January but at a more moderate pace compared with the same time last year, according to flash purchasing managers index data compiled by Markit. The manufacturing index rose to 54.9 from 53.8 in December, while the services gauge slipped to 54.2 from 54.4. A figure above 50 signifies growth in activity.

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