The Indian share markets finished the on a dull note, taking a cue from Asian peers. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed lower by 11 points, whereas the NSE Nifty finished lower by 2 points. The S&P BSE Midcap ended down by 0.1% while the S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 0.4%. Sectoral indices ended the day on a mixed note. Realty and consumer durables stocks witnessed the maximum buying interest while banking and oil & gas stocks led the losses.

Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Nikkei 225 gained 2.51% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.73%. The Hang Seng lost 0.07%. European markets are lower today with shares in Germany off the most. The DAX is down 0.18% while London's FTSE 100 is off 0.02% and France's CAC 40 is lower by 0.01%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 68.18 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 52.62 at the time of writing.

According to an article in The Economic Times, Coal India announced that in this month, it will be starting the second phase of auction of coal linkages for the non-regulated sector and is likely to put on offer 14.5 million tonnes (MT) of fuel.

In this regard, Tranche II of auction of coal linkages for sponge iron sub-sector under non-regulated sector will start from January 17 onwards. Further, in the non-regulated sector, the auction of coal linkages will be for sponge iron, cement, steel and others.

One must note that, the company will put on offer of around 5 MT of coal for the sponge iron sector. In the first round, the company had auctioned around 22 MT of fuel linkages for the non-regulated sector. Also, last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved allocation of coal linkages for non-regulated sector only through auction route.

2015 had been an absolutely terrible year for metals and mining companies. Almost all of them saw their stock prices plunge and how. 2016, had seen a reversal of sorts though. Barring SAIL and Coal India, all the metals and mining companies have outperformed the Sensex by a wide margin. In one of our premium editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp, we have cited the reasons Coal India's underperformance (Subscription Required). Going forward, whether the worst gets over and prices start to rise again will be the key things to watch out for.

Coal India's Underperformance

Coal India has underperformed the S&P BSE Metal Index for the first time in three years. While the metal and mining index gained 47%, making it the top performing sectoral gauge of 2016, Coal India has fallen nearly 7.5%.

Coal India's share price ended the day up by 0.5%.

Moving on to the news from stocks in IT sector. HCL Technologies share price surged by 2.7% after it was reported that it has concluded the acquisition of Butler America Aerospace, LLC (Butler Aerospace) with effect from 3 January 2017. Butler Aerospace is a wholly owned subsidiary of Butler America LLC.

One must note that, HCL had announced in October 2016 regarding its acquisition of Butler America Aerospace, an aerospace & defense engineering service provider to US aerospace and defense customers. The acquisition is excluding the staffing business of Butler America Inc. The consideration for this acquisition was US$85 million payable in cash.

Reportedly, the acquisition will bolster HCL's capabilities in engineering services and access to clients with large R&D spends. India is an information technology powerhouse. In an extremely challenging global economy, western corporations are now expecting Indian IT firms to deliver a more compelling value proposition in terms of growth prospects. Going forward, whether the Indian IT firms are up to the task will be the key thing to watch out for.

IT Stocks ended the day up by 0.9% with HCL Technologies & Oracle Financial Services leading the gains.