Reforms boost market sentiment

Nifty above 5,800

Markets have opened higher in trades today after the government stuck to its reform agenda and increased the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in insurance, opened FDI in pension and  and also approved the Companies Bill, 2011.

The Sensex has advanced 48 points to open at 19,101 and the 50-share Nifty has jumped 20 points to open at 5,807.

Overnight, the S&P 500 extended gains to a fourth day on Thursday, putting it on the cusp of a new five-year high if Friday's jobs report shows encouraging signs for the labour market.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 81 points to 13,575 at the close. The S&P 500 rose 10 points to 1,461.40 and the Nasdaq Composite added 14 points to end at 3,149.46.

The Asian markets are also trading higher as investor risk aversion eased after the European Central Bank said it was ready to buy bonds of troubled euro zone countries, while markets awaited a key US jobs report.  The Nikkei was up 37 points at 8,861, Hang Seng advanced 68 points to 20,976, Seoul Composite jumped 5 points to 3,087 and Taiwan Weighted was up  16 points at 7,698.

Back home, In a slew of big decisions, the Cabinet cleared two important financial sector reform Bills, aimed at increasing FDI in the insurance sector to 49% from the current 26% and opening of the pension sector to FDI in line with the insurance sector. It also approved the Companies Bill, 2011, making spending on corporate social responsibility a mandatory provision for companies above a threshold.

Tata Motors is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks., up 1.3% at Rs 278. BHEL, Tata Power, HUL, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Gail India, ITC, reliance Industries and Hindalco have also opened higher in trades today.

On the other hand, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Infosys, SBI, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Cipla are among the losers.

On the sectoral front, Auto, FMCG, realty, capital goods, oil & gas and power indices are up 0.2-0.6% each. While, healthcare, IT and consumer durables indices have opened lower by 0.1-0.2% each.

The broader markets have opened higher. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are up 0.4 and 0.2% each respectively.

The overall breadth is positive as 877 stocks are advancing while 450 are declining.