Sensex opens 102.46 points up, Nifty above 12,100; PSU Banks, Metal stocks lead

Mumbai: Indian indices on Monday (December 16) open with a positive start. Sensex is up 102.46 points or 0.25% at 41112.17, while the Nifty up 28.00 points or 0.23% at 12114.70. About 459 shares have advanced, 186 shares declined, and 51 shares are unchanged. PSU Banks and Metal stocks continued to lead the gaining list, while all the sectoral indices are trading in green except for Pharma index.

At BSE, about 562 shares have advanced, 294 shares declined, while 53 shares remain unchanged. All other sectoral indices are trading in the green, while the Midcap index is up 0.35 per cent.

Indian rupee also opened higher at 70.75 per dollar today against Friday's close 70.81.

On Friday, benchmark index Sensex closed near its life-time high after signs of easing US and China trade tension ignoring the weak macroeconomic situation in the country. The Sensex closed 428 points higher at 41,009.71, touching an intra-day high of 41,055.80. The Nifty settled at 12,086.70 gaining 115 points.

Official data on Thursday showed that retail inflation has soared to 5.54 per cent in November, a steep rise of 92 basis points from October. This added to the already declining growth and multi-decade high unemployment, sparking fears of stagflation.

On the global front, Asian shares ticked higher on Monday as investors cheered an announced trade agreement between Beijing and Washington over the weekend although jubilation was capped by prevailing scepticism about the deal. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Sunday said a deal was "totally done", notwithstanding some needed revisions, and would nearly double US exports to China over the next two years.

That helped push the MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which had touched its highest level since April 24 on Friday, up 0.21%. Australian shares jumped, adding 1.23%. But Japan`s Nikkei 225 pulled back 0.21% after a strong rally on Friday that pushed the index to a 14-month high.

The small drop in Japanese shares also reflected continued investor trepidation over the specifics of the trade deal. The "phase one" agreement came ahead of the deadline on Sunday for a new round of US tariffs on almost $160 billion of Chinese imports. The 17-month-old trade dispute has roiled financial markets and taken a toll on world economic growth.

US shares had struck a cautious note on Friday, paring initial gains to end barely higher as weary investors await signs of a concrete deal. However, the news of a deal was still enough to send the S&P 500 to a record closing high of 3,168.8, up 0.01%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to end at 8,734.88, also a record, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01% to 28,135.38.

The dollar rose 0.05% against the yen to 109.403 and the euro was slightly higher at $1.1123. Sterling, which jumped last week after the UK general election produced a strong Conservative majority, notched up 0.23% to $1.3356. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was down at 97.140.

Oil prices, which had risen on Friday following the deal, cooled in early Asian trade on Monday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 0.38% at $59.84 per barrel.

Spot gold prices fell 0.1%, with the precious metal trading hands at $1,473.88 per ounce. 

(With Agency Inputs)