Markets remain firm ahead of US Federal Reserve outcome

Markets are trading higher for the third session mirroring strength in the global peers. Broad-based buying is seen across the board with energy shares leading the rally following a rebound in global crude oil prices from multi-year lows. Meanwhile, market players are awaiting for the outcome of a US Federal Reserve two-day meet which ends later today.

By 13:20 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex has climbed 205 points to trade at 25,525 and the Nifty50 has gained 62 points to quote at 7,763. Also, buying is witnessed in the broader market with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices trading higher by 0.9% each.

Meanwhile, the rupee has gained 7 paise to trade at 66.85 against the US dollar amid strength in the Indian equities. Rupee recovered from its over two-year lows to close 17 paise higher at 66.92 against the US dollar yesterday.

On the macro-economic front, India’s merchandise exports shrank for the twelfth consecutive month in November this year, contracting by 24% to $20 billion, according to data released by the government.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

The energy shares are witnessing an uptick after crude oil prices bounced back from multi-year lows. Higher crude oil prices will help resulting in higher realisation for upstream companies like ONGC, Oil India and Cairn India trading higher between 2%-4%.

Moreover, oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and IOC have gained over 2% each. OMCs have slashed petrol and diesel prices by 50 paise and 46 paise per litre each yesterday. 

Another sector which is seeing buying interest is the capital goods space. BHEL has surged 2% after the company added one more coal-based power plant to the grid by successfully commissioning a 500 megawatts thermal generating unit in West Bengal. Meanwhile, L&T has gained 0.4% after the company announced that Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has completed its second tranche investment of Rs 1000 crore into L&T's subsidiary L&T Infrastructure Development Projects (L&T IDPL) by subscribing to compulsorily convertible preference shares of L&T IDPL.

Among individual names, Infosys has jumped 1.5% after the company announced that Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), a wholly owned subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding Co., has decided to adopt Infosys Finacle's newgeneration Finacle Core Banking solution.

HDFC Bank has climbed 0.7% after the bank issued and allotted on a private placement basis senior, unsecured, redeemable, long term, non-convertible bonds in the nature of debentures 

In the auto space, Maruti Suzuki is trading flat ahead of the results of the voting by minority shareholders of Maruti Suzuki to allow its Japanese parent Suzuki to invest and own the upcoming plant in Gujarat. Meanwhile, M&M is trading lower by 4% after the Supreme Court prohibited new diesel luxury cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with engines beyond 2,000 cc from hitting Delhi roads, asserting it would not permit the rich to buy such vehicles that polluted the air and affected public health. The court also hiked a levy on trucks entering the city to tackle one of the worst-ever bouts of toxic smog that has hit Delhi.

Another prominent loser is Wipro slipping 0.5% after the company issued a warning saying that disruption of works at its Chennai facilities due to recent floods would impact third quarter (October-December 2015) performance.