Nifty holds above 9,050 on positive Asian cues; broader markets outperform

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices rose 0.3% each

The market on Thursday continued to trade higher as Asian markets rose tracking a mild bounce on Wall Street ahead of US Congress' vote on US President Donald Trump's GOP healthcare bill due later in the day. 

The benchmark indices had logged their worst fall of 2017 in the previous session. 

At 01:09 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,259, up 92 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,062, up 32 points. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices rose nearly 1% each, ouperforming the frontline indices.

"With yesterday’s slippage, markets are more neutral, and without the bearish baggage that has been clouding sentiments. But a direct fallout of this could be an expansion in trading range and volatility. The 8,970 region on Nifty can be set as the downside extremity of such range, while a push above 9,080 could be seen as initial attempts to put the trend back into the upside trajectory towards 9,350-9,500," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"However, such up move may take a while longer to prosper, and to that end, inability to float above 9080 needs to be taken as signal towards more consolidation," he added.

Sectors and stocks

All but S&P BSE FMCG index was trading in green. S&P BSE Realty, S&P BSE Capital Goods and S&P BSE Industrials gained over 1% each. 

S&P BSE Bankex snapped its four-session long losing streak to add 0.3%, led by gains in Axis Bank (up 1%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.5%) and ICICI Bank (up 0.5%). 

Among individual stocks, Hindustan Zinc was up 3% to Rs 322 on BSE after the company announced a special interim dividend of Rs 13,985 crore.

Som Distilleries & Breweries soared 19% to Rs 144 in intra-day trade after the company announced that it has started the supply of Black Fort Beer to Karnataka.

Shares of state-run Bank of Baroda (BoB) rose 1% following reports that the lender is looking to reduce stake in its insurance and asset-management ventures. 

India least attractive EM

India is the least attractive developing nation for investors due to its relatively expensive stocks, bonds and currency, while Mexico is the best, reported Bloomberg. The study is based on a range of metrics analyzed by Bloomberg including growth, yields and equity valuations.

Meanwhile, the pace of foreign portfolio investor (FPI) buying was seen slowing. On Wednesday, FPIs bought equities worth Rs 356 crore, while domestic institutions sold these to a tune of Rs 780 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed. 

All eyes on Trump and healthcare

Investors have been bracing for today's floor vote on Trump's GOP healthcare bill scheduled in the US House of Representatives, with safe-haven securities including Treasuries and gold seeing price gains on Wednesday. Trump and Republican congressional leaders appeared on Wednesday to be losing the battle to get enough support to pass the Obamacare rollback bill.

"If the vote doesn’t pass, or is postponed, it will cast a lot of doubt on the Trump trades," told the influential bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive at DoubleLine Capital to Reuters. 

Global markets

Asian markets advanced this morning. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.25% thanks to a weaker yen. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.3%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.4%.

Overnight, the Nasdaq jumped 0.5% and the S&P 500 closed higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, after all three touched their lowest levels in about five weeks earlier in the session.

(With inputs from Reuters)