Markets snap 4-day losing streak with Nifty settling above the crucial level of 8,350 as investors bought stocks at attractive valuations ahead of June F&O Expiry tomorrow. Meanwhile, the gains were limited as participants remained cautious ahead of the outcome of the two-day US Federal Reserve policy meet late Wednesday.
Provisionally, the Sensex ended 105 points higher at 27,564 level and the Nifty gained 43 points to close at 8,380.
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(updated at 2:25 PM)Markets were trading margnially higher in late noon trades on Wednesday led by gains in IT shares while upside gains remained capped on caution ahead of the expiry of July derivative contracts tomorrow and outcome of the two-day US Fed meet which ends later today.
At 2:25PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 78 points at 27,538 and the 50-share Nifty was up 25 points at 8,362.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.5% and the Small-cap index was up 0.7%. Market breadth was strong with 1,556 gainers and 1,102 losers on the BSE.
The Indian rupee was trading marginally higher against the US dollar at 63.88 against the previous close of 63.91 tracking gains in domestic equities.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continued to remain sellers after they sold equities worth RS 1,376 crore on Tuesday.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer up 1.4% followed by IT and Auto indices. BSE Consumer Durables was the top loser down 1.9% followed by FMCG and Realty indices.
According to reports, top three Indian IT majors, TCS, Wipro and Infosys together added 12,187 employees in the June quarter. This is a nearly 68% net increase over the same quarter last year. TCS, Wipro and Infosys are up 0.2-1.6% each.
L&T was up nearly 1% ahead of its April-June earnings tomorrow. BHEL was up 2.4%.
HDFC was up nearly 1% after the mortgage lender's loan book jumped 13.6% to Rs 2,31,224 crore at the end of June quarter compared to Rs 2,03,384 crore a year ago.
Other Sensex gainers which gained include, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma among others.
Airline shares are gaining in today’s trade. Jet Airways is up 11.7% on relative valuation, fuel price cut hopes and SpiceJet has soared 4% after it posted a net profit of Rs 71.8 crore in April-June quarter from a loss of Rs 124 crore in year-ago period making it the highest-ever Q1 profit. Crude oil has plunged nearly 20% this month and it slightly dipped below $47 a barrel on Tuesday.
Shares of public sector (PSU) banks continued to reel under pressure, trading at their fresh 52-week lows on the bourses after reporting a weak set of numbers for April-June (Q1FY16) quarter. Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank, Uco Bank and Vijaya Bank have touched their respective 52-week lows on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Metal shares gained after commodity prices firmed up and rebound in the China shares. Tata Steel and Hindalco are up between 0.3-0.8%. Vedanta was down 0.3% ahead of its Q1 results later today.
Tata Motors was up 1.3% on value buying at lower levels after the sharp correction in the previous sessions.
Maruti Suzuki was up 1.4% after it reported a 56% rise, year-on-year, in its net profit in the June quarter while net sales rose 18% to Rs 13,078 crore.