Bulls roar: Sensex up 400 pts; Tata Steel, Adani Ports gain 3-4%

Moneycontrol Bureau12:45 pm Europe likely to open higher: Markets in Europe are set to open higher today as investors await an announcement from President Mario Draghi of the ECB (European Central Bank) on further monetary stimulus.

The FTSE 100 should open 16 points up at 6,918, the DAX is set to begin trading 50 points higher at 11,036 and the CAC is seen 22 points higher at 4,716.

Investor expectations point to an extension of the ECB's quantitative easing program by another six months but along with some signals that this monetary policy would not last forever.12:32 pm Import duty: India has scrapped the 10 percent import duty on wheat to facilitate buying by private traders, a government source said today, amid fears of a shortage of the staple after droughts in 2014 and 2015 depleted stocks.

Private importers have purchased about 500,000 tonnes of wheat, largely from Australia, in the past month.

India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, lowered its import tax on the grain to 10 percent from 25 percent in September.12:20 pm Service tax waived off: Government will waive service tax on debit and credit card transactions of up to Rs 2,000 in a bid to promote digital transactions amid cash crunch following withdrawal of old Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes.

The government has decided to "exempt services by an acquiring bank to any person in relation to settlement of an amount up to Rs 2,000 in a single transaction transacted trough credit, debit card or other payment card service", sources said.

A notification to this effect will be tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament.

Following demonetisation of old high value notes, there has been a cash crunch in the country as people have been making a beeline for banks and ATMs to withdraw new currency.

The government has been taking steps to promote cashless or digital transactions to take India towards a less-cash economy.Also read - Growth hit may be little more than RBI's estimate: Nomura12:00 pm Market check

Bulls have taken a complete control over Dalal Street as the Sensex surged nearly 400 points after pricing in RBI's unexpected rate status quo and due to renewed buying interest from FIIs.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 387.77 points or 1.48 percent to 26624.64 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 119.15 points or 1.47 percent at 8221.20.

The market breadth remained strong but the gap between advance and decline narrowed. About three shares advanced for every share falling against 5:1 ratio in early trade on the BSE.

With overweight rating on India, Mixo Das of Nomura says while he sees some upside in equities in the very near term as the Donald Trump trade unwinds somewhat, he anticipates a difficult H12017.Earnings momentum slows and valuations come under pressure, he reasons. He says he will look to position accordingly in early Q1.

Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Adani Ports were the biggest gainers, up 3-4 percent followed by ITC, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp and Coal India with 2-2.5 percent upside.