Nifty reclaims 7,600 mark; Sensex up 100 points

Participants are eyeing the RBI monetary policy review scheduled tomorrow

Markets have gained momentum after India’s January manufacturing PMI expanded to 51.1 against 49.9 in the month of December. Meanwhile, broad-based rally is seen across the counters with capital goods leading the rally after L&T posted firm quarterly numbers.

At 10:40 am, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 102 points to trade at 24,973 and the Nifty50 climbed 32 points to quote at 7,596. 

Top 5 gainers in the Sensex pack include L&T, Cipla, Adani Ports, Wipro, Lupin and Bharti Airtel up between 1.5%-4%.

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(10:40 am)

Markets opened on a positive note mirroring strong rally on the Wall Street on Friday and firm gains in Japanese equity markets after Bank of Japan (BOJ) slashed a benchmark interest rate below zero on Friday, a move to kickstart the economy.

Meanwhile, participants are eyeing the RBI monetary policy review tomorrow and the last batch of third quarter earnings will be in focus during the current week.

At 9:40 am, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 26 points to trade at 24,896 and the Nifty50 climbed 10 points to quote at 7,573. In the broader market, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are outperforming the largecaps  and have gained between 0.5%-0.8%.

"Technically, Nifty is well placed above 20- DMA i.e. above 7535 levels on closing indicates a positive sign. Also, the fact that the Nifty is forming a good support at 7370 odd levels and heading towards 50- DMA i.e. 7680 levels. Nifty is likely to continue its a bounce back rally towards 7620-7680 as long as Nifty hold 7370 levels on closing basis. For Intraday, Nifty has an immediate support at 7540/7510 whereas resistance is placed at 7610/7640," Nirmal Bang Research said in a technical note.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks except China and Hong Kong are trading higher with Japanese shares gaining the most after the Bank of Japan's negative interest rate policy stance. The benchmark Nikkei gained 1.8% while Straits Times climbed 0.3%. However, Shanghai Composite lost 0.5% after an official measure of activity in the factory sector dropped to its lowest since mid-2012. Also, Hang Seng eased 0.4%.

US stocks rallied on Friday after the surprise announcement by the Bank of Japan and strong gains in technology shares led by Microsoft. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 2.4% at 16,460 while the broader S&P 500 gained 2.4% to 1,939 and tech-laden Nasdaq ended up 2.4% at 4,614.

KEY STOCKS

The auto stocks are trading mixed ahead of the auto sales numbers for the month of January due to released starting today. Tata Motors is up 0.5%, while Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto down between 0.1%-2.5%.

The rate sensitive stocks including auto, financials and realty stocks are showing a mixed trend ahead of the RBI policy review tomorrow. In the financial pocket, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and HDFC have shed between 0.1%-2.5%, while HDFC Bank is up 0.6%. The realty stocks are trading largely in green with DB Realty, HDIL, Mahindra Life, DLF, IndiaBulls real estate, Prestige Estates up between 1%-2%.

L&T reported a 19% increase in consolidated net profit for the third quarter on the account of improved execution of projects in its overseas. The stock has jumped 3.5% and has emerged as the top gainer in the Sensex pack. 

Marico is up 1.7% after the company posted 24% increase in net profit to Rs198 crore during the third quarter ended December even as sales grew 7% at Rs 1556 crore. 

Grasim Industries jumped 4% after it  reported a net profit of Rs 650 crore for the December quarter, up 9% from Rs 334 crore in the year-ago period owing to better operational performance. 

JSW Steel lost 1% on reporting a consolidated net loss of Rs 923 crore for the December quarter, hit by impairment charges of Rs 2,121 crore. 

V-Guard Industries soared 7% on reporting an over two-fold jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 21.48 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015.