Market consolidates, Union budget takes spotlight

Bringing up the second day of gains, equities showed signs of consolidation after the benchmark Sensex closed at 27,309 as investors tried to strike a fine balance between new policies of US President-elect Donald Trump and the domestic budget, which is a few days away.

Firming global stocks kept the pitch conducive, traders said, with foreign and domestic investors both playing along. Oil and gas and PSU stocks stayed in the limelight.

The 30-share Sensex settled up 50.96 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 27,308.60. The gauge had climbed 22 points yesterday.

The 50-share Nifty too rose 18.10 points, or 0.22 per cent, to close at 8,435.10 after moving between 8,445.15 and 8,404.05.

Yes Bank advanced 0.06 per cent after the company posted a 30.6 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 882.63 crore for the third quarter ended December while Axis Bank fell 0.95 per cent ahead of its quarterly results.

"Despite a favourable start to the earnings season, the market is consolidating as investors are looking for a balance between upcoming Trump policies and the domestic budget. A turnaround in FII inflows is supporting the market, but cautiousness has prevailed due to Fed's rate hike course and selling in European market ahead of ECB monetary policy."

Buying picked up after the Cabinet gave its approval to Alternative Mechanism that would decide on the quantum of disinvestment in a particular Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) on a case to case basis subject to government retaining 51 per cent equity and management control, the traders added.

Asia saw a mixed closing and European bourses ruled high.

GAIL emerged as the star player and closed up by 5.31 per cent, followed by PowerGrid 1.79 per cent. ONGC, Tata Motors, ITC, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and Infosys all rose.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 319.14 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Among the 30-share Sensex constituents, 14 stocks turned green while 16 led by Lupin, Sun Pharma, Wipro, HDFC Bank and HDFC, among others, fell, which pulled back the gains.

BSE oil and gas index jumped the most by rising 2.03 per cent, followed by PSUs (1 per cent), consumer durables (0.89 per cent), power (0.81 per cent) and auto (0.52 per cent).

The broader markets continued to trend firm as retail investors built more bets, with the BSE mid-cap index rising 0.41 per cent and small-cap 0.33 per cent.

While Japan' Nikkei rose 0.94 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.21 per cent. Shanghai Composite fell 0.31 per cent.

European markets were higher in their early session ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting. London's FTSE was up 0.33 per cent, Paris CAC 40 0.15 per cent and Frankfurt 0.08 per cent.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday closed at the lowest level of 2017, marking a fourth straight day in the red for the blue-chip gauge.