Sensex, Nifty, Midcap sluggish; Brent crude, gold prices rise

Moneycontrol Bureau12:35 pm FDI inflow: Pinning hopes on a slew of FDI reforms unveiled by the government in 2016, the government expects that the momentum of high FDI inflows will continue in the new year.

FDI inflows in January-September jumped 21 percent to USD 32.18 billion.

"I am sure the momentum on FDI will continue. I think many of the areas where the ball is set rolling, you might see tangible results coming out in 2017," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told PTI.

She said things are moving in key areas, including defence and medical devices.

"I suppose by middle of 2017, you will get to see some developments in those (sectors) also because after the policy got opened up, particularly in sectors like defence and railway, it takes a while because they are large investments and they come in with technology," she said.

12:20 pm Interview: Fuel price hike has been delayed and this is not good news for oil marketing companies as crude oil prices have fallen 15 percent since the OPEC deal. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 B Ashok, Chairman of IOC, said that they are keeping track of prices on a daily basis.

Without committing to a deadline for when the revision in prices will come about, he said the gross refining margins for the oil marketer were good in Q2. The margins for India were USD 4.5 for the quarter and the half yearly number for the same was a little over USD 7 dollars a barrel.

He believes there will be no major inventory effect on the current year.

He reiterated that price revisions need not be undertaken within a fixed timeframe. “We might find ourselves doing a daily price change also in future,” he said, adding that he doesn’t anticipate any under-recovery on petrol and diesel in this current year.Also read - Buy, sell, hold: 7 stocks that you can watch out today12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets remained rangebound in noon trade with the Sensex hovering around 26500 level. Technology stocks continued to support the market whereas selling pressure was seen in banks, FMCG, select metals and pharma stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 24.86 points at 26494.21 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 13.05 points to 8140.55. The market breadth was moderately negative as about 1201 shares declined against 1054 advancing shares on the BSE.

Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma shares fell more than 3 percent to hit lowest in more than nine months after it was named in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with other drugmakers to fix prices of two commonly-used drugs in the United States.

Claris Lifesciences was one of the top five most active shares, up 6 percent after it signed a deal to sell injectable business to US company Baxter International for USD 625 million.

Gold edged up but remained near its weakest level in 10-1/2 months, pressured as the US dollar surged to multi-year peaks after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and projected further hikes in 2017.

Oil prices also climbed higher after market sources said Kuwait had told customers it was cutting supplies by more than initially expected from January as part of a coordinated effort by oil producers to drain a global glut.