Forex reserves decline by USD 935.2 million to USD 359.671 billion

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday, that  India's foreign exchange (FOREX) reserves declined by USD 935.2 million to USD 359.671 billion in the week to December 23 owing to fall in foreign currency assets.  In the preceding week, Forex reserves  had fallen by USD 2.380 billion to USD 360.606 billion by touching a life-time high of USD 371.99 billion in the week to September 30, 2016. It further added that the Gold reserves remained steady at USD 19.982 billion in the reporting week.
Foreign currency assets (FCAs)  dipped by USD 933.2 million to USD 335.970 billion in the reporting week.  FCAs, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and the yen held in the reserves.
The data indicated that the special drawing rights with the IMF  decreased by USD 0.9 million to USD 1.427 billion, while India's reserve position with the Fund also declined by USD 1.1 million to USD 2.290 billion.

Silver Slides Nearly 2% On MCX, Breaks Under Rs 41K

MCX Silver took a huge fall today as COMEX Silver drooped following the hike in interest rates by US Federal Reserve. COMEX Silver futures slipped in Asian trades since Gold dropped to a fresh 10- month low. US dollar soared sharply as the US Fed hiked interest rate by a 0.25 percent  and showed more to come next year.
Dollar index is around its 15 year highs, trading above 102 levels right now. COMEX Silver plunged by 2.50 percent to USD 16.78 per ounce.
MCX Silver futures also followed the same cues and dropped at the very start only;  The counter opened with a sharp gap of over Rs 400 per kg and currently trades at Rs. 40, 965 /kg, down 1.83 percent  on the day.

Indian, Overseas Market, Overview at a Glance

Indian stock market today is watchful ahead of the US Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy meet being scheduled today. Also, the domestic CPI (Consumer Price Inflation data) will be released today. Auto segment, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas sectors are also seeing some traction in the morning session of trading. Asian markets are also opened flat.

A sharp rally in crude pooled with US 10 year bond yields crossing 2.5 percent witnessed a weakness, that creep into the emerging markets. Asian indexes were mixed tracking weak cues from the US, as investors chose to expect the result of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement. Japanese shares down since investors took profits after a recent rally that had taken shares to their highest level in a year.

At 12:40, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26599 up 84.13 points (+0.32%), while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,186.50 up 15.70 points (+0.19%). An active buying activity is seen in Auto, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas sectors, whereas Metal, Bank, Realty, Finance, Pharma are showing slackness on BSE. Tata Motors said it will increase the prices of its passenger vehicles by up to Rs 25,000 from next month so as to compensate the increased input costs.

A generic Tamiflu capsules was launched by Natco Pharma, the drug is used for the treatment of influenza, in the American market after the final approval from the US health regulator in Aug 2016. Sun Pharma and Moebius Medical have come into an exclusive worldwide licensing contract to further develop MM-II, a novel pharmaceutical drug for the treatment of pain in osteoarthritis.

GAIL India Limited has won a second extension for completing the Cochin-Bangalore-Mangalore natural gas pipeline since it faces unprecedented troubles in getting land in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.