Sensex off day’s high; Bharti slips 2%, JSPL top midcap gainer
11:34 am PSU banks consolidation:
Days after the Cabinet approved merging five associate banks with SBI, Finance Ministry officials said further consolidation in public sector banking may have to wait till bad loans situation improves.
The government may not like to go in for further consolidation in public sector banks till the NPA situation improves, sources said.
Merging PSU banks at their current health is not a good option as it has potential to undermine the performance of the merged entity, officials added.
Meanwhile, heads of the top 10 PSU banks, including SBI, PNB and BoB, had meeting with the Finance Minister where host of issues where discussed including current NPA situation, capital infusion and GST implementation from the banks’ perspective.
11:17 am Market Expert: Even as the optimism around India is quite high, foreign investors are treading cautiously, choosing to wait for fourth quarter earnings before taking investment calls, says GV Giri, Head of Research at IIFL Institutional Equities speaking to CNBC-TV18 from the sidelines of the 2-day IIFL Enterprising India Conference.
Foreign fund inflows that had dried up last year have started returning since the start of this calendar, he says. Barring a couple of markets, India has outperformed most emerging markets this year, he noted.
Also read – TCS buyback: Analysts hail move but see limited upside to stock
11:00 am Market Check
Equity benchmarks were off day’s high in morning, weighed by banking & financials, telecom and select FMCG & technology stocks. However, Reliance and Tata Motors continued to support the market.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 42.42 points at 28619.16 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 10.40 points to 8868.80.
The broader markets also were off day’s high, rising 0.3 percent. The market breadth was positive as about 1336 shares advanced against 962 declining shares on the BSE.
ITC and Bharti Airtel were top losers among Sensex stocks, down 1-2 percent followed by HDFC Bank, Jindal Steel retained its top position in buying list among midcap stocks, up 8 percent in addition to 8 percent rally in previous session., M&M, Maruti, HDFC and Infosys.
Jindal Steel retained its top position in buying list among midcap stocks, up 8 percent in addition to 8 percent rally in previous session.
US crude futures rose for a second day today, with data showing hedge funds are betting big across oil markets following OPEC production cuts agreed last year. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.47 percent at USD 53.65 a barrel.
Gold prices fell amid a rise in the dollar as investors awaited more clues on the timing of any US interest rate hikes in a series of speeches by Federal Reserve officials this week.
