Sensex, Nifty hold gains; Coal India, Hindalco up 2-3%

Moneycontrol Bureau1:45 pm Market outlook: There is a risk-off approach to the global market and this week will reflect just that, says Vineet Bhatnagar of PhillipCapital. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bhatnagar says the Nifty, however, should find good support at 7500-7530. On sectoral bets, Bhatnagar says the Bank Nifty should trade steady at 15500-15800, adding that despite current weakness in some private names, banking sector would be relatively performing well from a one-year horizon. Bhatnagar further adds that 2016 is still expected to be the year for equities among most institutional investors.1:30 pm Macro data: The country's wholesale inflation, which has been in negative territory for thirteen months now, eased a bit, with the wholesale price index coming in at -1.99 percent in November compared to -3.81 percent in October and versus a forecast of -2.59 percent. However, analysts said the easing was largely because of the base effect and added that the inflation print continues to paint a worrying picture of weakness led by the global commodity rout. Beneath the headline numbers, inflation for fuel and power group stood at -11.09 percent year-on-year versus -16.32 percent in November. Fuel and power has a 14.91 percent weightage in the WPI basket.Don't miss: Eicher Motors falls 3%; JP Morgan initiates with underweight

The market is holding gains as the Sensex is up 103.95 points or 0.4 percent at 25148.38. The Nifty is up 39.65 points or 0.5 percent at 7650.10. About 1485 shares have advanced, 953 shares declined, and 179 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco, Tata Steel, HUL, Coal India and Vedanta are top gainers while Tata Motors, ONGC, Axis Bank, TCS and Bharti Airtel are losers in the Sensex.

Indian traders fear that an interest rate rise from the US Federal Reserve this week could cause a destabilising spike in bond yields, and are calling on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene by buying bonds via open market operations (OMO).

Banks are the main buyers of government bonds but are already holding large amounts of them to meet reserve requirements, so their purchases are waning.

At the same time, foreign investors are pulling out of many emerging markets at the moment, so there is less demand from them. Foreign investors have pulled USD 1.7 billion out of India in November, the highest withdrawals since August.