Pre-Session: Market may gain as BJP leads in vote count in Gujarat

18-Dec-17: Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could surge 53.20 points at the opening bell. Marketmen will keenly track the outcome of the recently concluded assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. Counting is underway and early leads showed BJP leading in both the states. BJP was leading in 57 seats while Congress was leading in 21 seats in Gujarat. Results of both the states will be announced today, 18 December 2017.

Poll in Himachal Pradesh took place in single phase on 9 November 2017, while in Gujarat, poll was scheduled in two phases on 9 and 14 December 2017.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed. US stocks rose to all-time highs on Friday, 15 December 2017, as expectations of a Republican tax bill passing increased. The plan will likely cut the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.

Back home, the stock market closed the last trading session of the week with modest gains on Friday, 15 December 2017. The Sensex advanced 216.27 points or 0.65% to settle at 33,462.97, its highest closing level since 29 November 2017.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 921.03 crore on Friday, 15 December 2017, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 635.44 crore on Friday, 15 December 2017, as per provisional data.

On macroeconomic data front, India's merchandise exports surged 30.5% to $26.2 billion in November 2017 over a year ago. Meanwhile, merchandise imports increased 19.6% to $40.02 billion. The trade deficit rose 3.2% to $13.83 billion in November 2017 from US$ 13.01 billion in November 2016.

India's services exports improved 7.9% to $14.15 billion in October 2017 over October 2016. Meanwhile, India's services imports galloped 13.3% to $8.70 billion in October 2017. India's services trade surplus rose 0.3% to $5.45 billion in October 2017 from $5.43 billion in October 2016.

Among corporate news, Wipro announced a partnership with Headspin, a San Francisco-based powerful, easy-to-use mobile experience platform, to offer next-generation mobility quality engineering and testing solutions on global mobile networks. Wipro Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Wipro that is focused on investing in early-to-mid-stage startups, made an investment in Headspin in October 2017. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 15 December 2017.

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