Sensex, Nifty hover near record high; metals extend gains

Key indices continued to trade near record levels in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered around the 12,200 level. At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 128.76 points or 0.31% at 41,480.93. The Nifty 50 index was up 41.2 points or 0.32% at 12,203.70.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.27% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.05%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1090 shares rose and 1311 shares fell. A total of 181 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 32 stocks advanced while 18 stocks declined.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 38th goods and services tax (GST) Council meeting today, 18 December 2019. Investors are keenly waiting for the outcome of the meeting to get any cues on the government's plan to overcome revenue shortfall. Concerns on fiscal path may influence government to hike tax slabs.

Buzzing Index:

Metal stocks extended gains for second session. The Nifty Metal index was up 0.83% at 2,687.75. The index gained 3.73% in two trading sessions from its previous closing low of 2591.10 on 16 December 2019.

MOIL (up 3.53%), JSW Steel (up 1.91%), NMDC (up 1.96%), Tata Steel (up 1.75%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.27%), Hindustan Copper (up 0.39%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.08%) were top gainers in metal segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

PC Jeweller was down 5.41% to Rs 24.50 after market regulator Sebi on Tuesday ordered to impound Rs 8 crore from the company's promoters in insider trading case.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) fell 2.09% to Rs 63.35 after the public sector lender said CRISIL had put its bonds on "rating watch with developing implications" from "stable" outlook.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.743% at 14:14 IST compared with 6.744% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.08, compared with its close of 70.9850 during the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2020 settlement was down 36 cents at $65.74 a barrel. The contract rose 1.16% to settle at $66.1 a barrel during the previous trading session. Crude oil prices declined as US industry data showed a rise in crude stockpile.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2019 settlement rose 0.07% to Rs 37,966.

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