Key benchmarks turn positive

Key benchmark indices bounced back in positive terrain in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 30.72 points or 0.12% at 26,657.18. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 6.50 points or 0.08% at 8,192.30. The broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,799 shares rose and 761 shares fell. A total of 105 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.75%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 1.13%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Interest rate sensitive realty stocks rose after many banks announced reduction in lending rates. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. Peninsula Land (up 6.07%), Unitech (up 5.96%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 5.05%), Oberoi Realty (up 4.83%), Parsvnath Developers (up 4.73%), DLF (up 4.58%), Anant Raj (up 4.45%), D B Realty (up 4.40%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 3.26%), Sunteck Realty (up 3.17%), Phoenix Mills (up 3.13%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 2.55%), Godrej Properties (up 2.28%), Sobha (up 1.44%) and Omaxe (up 1.17%), edged higher. Prestige Estates Projects was down 0.29%.

Most capital goods shares rose. SKF India (up 2.04%), Suzlon Energy (up 2.03%), AIA Engineering (up 2%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 1.53%), Praj Industries (up 1.43%), Punj Lloyd (up 1.33%), Jindal Saw (up 0.91%), Siemens (up 0.56%), GE Power India (up 0.54%), Crompton Greaves (up 0.51%), ABB India (up 0.37%), Reliance Defence and Engineering (up 0.36%), Havells India (up 0.20%) and BEML (up 0.07%), edged higher. GE T&D India (down 0.13%), Lakshmi Machine Works (down 0.22%), Thermax (down 0.56%) and Bharat Electronics (down 1%), edged lower.

Engineering and construction major L&T rose 1.21%. The company announced during trading hours today, 2 January 2017, that its wholly owned subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering led consortium has secured two more orders from Saudi Aramco.

In a separate announcement, L&T announced during trading hours today, 2 January 2017, that it has bagged another smart city project as part of the Government's Smart City Mission by being identified as the implementation partner to convert Pune into a Smart City. The scope of work includes enabling wi-fi at around 200 strategic Locations across Pune, establishing emergency call boxes and public address systems, environmental sensors, variable messaging displays, network connectivity and video analytics integration. The project includes a revenue monetization model, country's first in smart cities domain.

On the macro front, manufacturing PMI in India fell to 49.60 in December 2016 from 52.30 in November. A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while a reading below 50 points toward contraction. The reading pointed to the first contraction since December 2015, as output, new orders and new export orders fell amid cash shortages in the economy. Data was announced during trading hours today, 2 January 2017.

Overseas, European stocks opened lower today, 2 January 2017, with a subdued trading activity amid the New Year holiday in London and the New York. Asian markets were shut for public holiday. South Korea's Seoul Composite fell 0.01%. US stocks fell on Friday, 30 December 2016, as investors took profits on some of 2016's high-flying sectors.

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