Markets gather pace; Nifty nears 7,950

Participants closely monitor the proceedings of the winter session of Parliament in view of the passage of the crucial GST bill

Markets have gained momentum in the morning hours on fresh buying in rate sensitive stocks ahead of the RBI monetary policy due on December 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, further stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB) has boosted the sentiment at the D-street.

At 10:05 AM, the Sensex is up 123  points at 26,082  and the Nifty gained 43 points to trade at 7,927.
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(updated at 9:50 AM)

Markets started the December series on a positive but quickly wiped off its gains and turned flat mirroring mixed Asian cues amid anticipation of further stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB). Caution continues to prevail on the bourses as participants closely monitor the proceedings of the winter session of Parliament and eyeing the passage of the crucial GST bill.

Meanwhile, US markets were shut on the account of Thanksgiving and will remain open for just half a day today as well.

At 9:50 AM, the Sensex is up 5 points at 25,964 and the Nifty gained 6 points to trade at 7,887.

According to Anand Rathi morning report, “Nifty traded smoothly till the end of the session yesterday and witnessed support based buying interest at every minor decline and settled the day with the decent gains of around 55 points. However if it fails to hold 7,800 levels then the index may come under the pressure and may decline towards next support of 7,777 and 7,725 levels."

The report further adds, "Yesterday the Sensex opened on a flattish note but managed to recapture its 25,900 levels as it  witnessed buying for most part of the day and traded in a pleasant mood as compared to the volatile trade of previous session. Now if it sustains above 25,900 levels then bounce back may continue towards 26,250 and higher levels while holding below 25,750 may drag the index towards 25,500 and 25,250 levels.”

Among the front liners, Tata Motors continues to remain one of the stellar performer and has moved higher by 1% after JLR said that it is to double the size of its Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC) as part of a £450 million expansion programme. M&M also followed the tandem and gained 1% on the launch of the automatic variant of the XUV5OO priced at Rs 15.36 lakh (ex-showroom, Navi Mumbai).

Among its peers Ashok Leyland climbed 3% on receiving an order worth USD 200 million (around Rs 1,331 crore) from the West African country Cote D'Ivoire for the supply 3,600 trucks and buses.

Meanwhile, Metal pack is witnessing buying interest as the as copper prices jumped in global commodity markets. Tata Steel, Hindalco and Vedanta have shot up between 0.5-1%.

Action is seen in the energy space with Oil & Gas major Reliance Industries trading with marginal losses after UK's Hardy Oil & Gas plc said it is in talks to acquire Reliance Industries' entire 90% stake in a gas discovery block off the Gujarat coast. Further, GAIL has launched satellite surveillance portal to monitor its 13,000 km of gas pipeline network with a view to address security concerns, however, the stock is the biggest loser in the Sensex 30 pack.

Another notable loser is Dr Reddy's Laboratories on reports that the USFDA might withhold approval of the company's fresh drugs and stop import if no corrective action is taken. However, the pharma major said that the USFDA extended the time-frame for replying to the warning letter issued to the company by about two weeks to December 7.  The stock is down 0.5%.

ITC, Infosys, Lupin, Bajaj Auto and Wipro are contributing the most to the decline on the Sensex and have slumped up to 1%.