 "Sensex nears 25,600; NTPC, Tata Power up 2%")
Benchmark share indices extended gains after the first hour of trade led by private banking majors along with metal and power shares following the government's plan to bring out an an ordinance to resolve issues arising out of the cancellations of coal blocks.
At 10:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 164 points at 26,594 and the 50-share Nifty was up 48 points at 7,928.
The Indian rupee contiues to trade higher at Rs 61.27 to the US dollar after the government on Monday decided to open up the coal industry to private players, raising hopes of more reforms.
ICICI Bank were up 1.6% while HDFC Bank was up over 1% ahead of its second quarter earnings.
In the metal pack, Sesa Sterlite was up 3.9%, Hindalco rose 2.6%, Tata Steel gained 2% and Jindal Steel was up 6%.
In the power sector, NTPC and Tata Power were among the top gainers up 1.7-2.5% each.
Among other shares, shares of BGR Energy Systems have climbed over 4% to Rs 157 on the BSE after the power company bagged orders worth Rs 250 crore in the electrical sub-stations segment of its electrical projects division.
Exide Industries fell around 2% on BSE after the company's performance in July-September quarter for 2015 fiscal came below market expectations mainly on account of decline in operating margin because of an increase of around 26% in overall expenses compared to the same quarter last fiscal.
Shares of twp-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company is trading higher by 3% at Rs 253, extending its 9% rally in past two days after the company said the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stake in the company touches nine year high during September 2014 quarter.
Market breadth improved further with 1,352 gainers and 672 losers on the BSE.
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(Updated at 09:40AM)
Markets opened higher led by power and metal shares after the government said it would formulate an ordinance to resolve issues arising out of the cancellations of coal blocks.
At 9:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 101 points at 26,531 and the 50-share Nifty was up 28 points at 7,907.
The Indian rupee was trading higher at Rs 61.28 compared to previous close of Rs 61.36 to the US dollar.
Foreign funds were net buyers in Indian stocks to the tune of Rs 1,040 crore.
Further, the announcement by the governemnt to cap the subsidy on domestic gas cylinders and to take up ordinance route to resolve issues arising out of the cancellation of coal blocks has improved sentiments. The ordinance will address issues related to coal supply to companies of central and state governments, as well as private companies in the cement, steel and power businesses. It will also address valuation of the land to be taken over from those who have lost coal blocks.
Asian markets trimmed early gains and investors remained cautious despite the third-quarter growth data allayed concerns about an entrenching slow down in the Chinese economy. China's economy grew 7.3% between July and September from a year earlier, slightly above expectations. Other data showed factory output rose 8.0 percent in September from a year earlier, beating expectations for a 7.5% increase and up from August's six-year low of 6.9%. Shedding its gains from Monday, NIkkei has declined around 0.7% while Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were trading marginally lower.
US stocks gained ahead of the release of third-quarter earning data of Apple while below expectation numbers from IBM dragged the indices down. Other factors adding to caution was the growing certainty about Fed wrapping up the third tranche of quantitative easing program later this month. Nasdaq was the biggest gainer with advance of around 1.3% while Dow Jones gained around 0.9% and S&P 500 around 0.5%.
Despite expectations of a some monetary easing measure to be undertaken by European Central Bank building up, European markets ended lower. German DAX was the biggest loser with a loss of more than 1.5% while French CAC 40 declined more than 1% and FTSE ended down 0.7%.
BSE Consumer Durables index was the top sectoral gainer up 1.3% followed by Metal, Power, Realty, Auto and Bankex indices.
Metal stocks were among the top Sensex gainers with Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite up 1.7-2.7% each while Jindal Steel and Power was up 6%.
In the power sector, NTPC was up 1.8% and Tata Power gained 1.4%.
Axis Bank extended gains post its robust second quarter earnings and was up 1% while HDFC Bank was tad higher ahead of its second quarter earnings later today.
IT shares rebounded on value buying at lower levels. TCS, Infosys and Wipro were up 0.5-1% each.
Idea Cellular was trading marginally lower. The telecom major's net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 779 crore as against consensus estimates of Rs 682 crore. As expected, voice volumes fell 1.7 per cent on a sequential basis but the fall was lower than the 5.8 per cent decline seen in the September quarter last year.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices were up 0.6% each.
Market breadth was strong with 932 gainers and 384 losers on the BSE.