Markets rise as hopes of Fed rate hike dims; rate sensitives rally

Broader markets are performing firm in line with the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up between 0.7-1%

After three days of losses, markets have recovered following strength in the Asian peers after weak US economic data waned hopes of Fed interest rate hike with rate sensitives contributing the most to the rise on the benchmarks. However, weakness in HUL and IT shares continue to prevail on the bourses on the back of lower than expected earnings. 

By 11:30 am, the Sensex was higher by 215 points at 26,994 and the Nifty gained by 67 points at 8,175 levels. The broader markets are performing firm in line with the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up over 07-1%. Market breadth on the BSE remains positive with 1,476 gainers and 772 losers.

RESULT CAPSULE

Prominent companies such as  Mindtree, Mastek, LIC Housing Finance, Sintex, CCL Products, Karur Vysya, Himmatsingka Seide and Lakshmi Vilas Bank will declare their Q2 September 2015 result today.

STOCK TRENDS

All sectoral indices are trading in green with BSE Auto, Bankex, Oil & Gas and Realty indices are trading higher between 1-2%.

Metal and mining shares continue to trade higher. Vedanta, Hindalco and Tata Steel are up 0.5-1%.

With surplus availability of iron ore in the domestic market, imports are likely to shrink to five million tonnes (mt) in the current financial year, compared with 15 mt in 2014-15.

Tata Motors has rallied 5% after the company-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sold 47,634 units globally in September, up 3% compared to the same month last year.

Lupin has risen by nearly 2% after it signed a marketing agreement with drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim to sell the latter's anti-diabetes drug linaglipitin under its own brand name.

M&M is planning to launch five more vehicles in the automotive segment in the current financial year, as it expects industry sales to pick up during October-December, a top company official said on Wednesday. Shares of M&M are up nearly 0.5%.

TCS is in talks with nine of the 11 payments bank licence holders to offer operational solutions, according to a highly placed source at the company. The stock is up 0.3%.

The Australian government on Thursday gave its environmental clearance to the Adani Group's embattled Carmichael coal mine.

Australia's environment minister Greg Hunt was reported as saying that he has cleared the project based on "additional information provided by Adani and environmental groups". Shares of Adani Enterprises have jumped over 11%. Adani Power has gained almsot 4%.

On the losing side, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and HDFC Bank are trading lower.

Hindustan Unilever said price cuts for key products including soaps and detergents dragged down its profit in the second quarter, missing market estimates despite improved sales. Shares of HUL are down 2%.

GLOBAL STOCKS

Asian shares firmed up after weak US economic data waned hopes of Fed interest rate hike in the near term. Shanghai Composit, Nikkei and Hang Seng are up between 0.7-1.5%.

On Wall Street, the Dow .DJI lost 0.9% and the S&P 500 .SPX shed 0.5% overnight on Wal-Mart's (WMT.N) weak profit forecast and disappointing bank earnings.

US retail sales and producer prices data out on Wednesday came lower than expected, supporting growing views that the Federal Reserve would delay hiking interest rates until 2016.