Sensex surges over 150 pts, metal stocks rally

Markets continued to trade firm in the late-morning session this Monday on back of buying witnessed in metal and mining stocks after robust China’s manufacturing data.

At 11:30AM, the 30-share Sensex gained 175  points at 18,794  and the 50-share Nifty added 46 points at 5,517 levels.

China’s economy is strengthening after a two-quarter slowdown, with a manufacturing gauge rising to a 16-month high in August.

Investors are now anxiously waiting for any fresh measures with Raghuram Rajan taking over the reins of RBI as the new governor on September 5.

The broader markets were firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,850 stocks traded, 1,161 stocks advanced while 586 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee weakened marginally in early trade because of the weak GDP numbers that came in on Friday after market hours.

At 11:20AM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 65.83 per dollar against the Friday’s close of 65.71 against the dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose for a third day, copper gained and the Australian dollar strengthened as Chinese manufacturing expanded. U.S. stock-index futures advanced and crude fell as prospects of an imminent strike on Syria faded.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.7% to 13,484, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.5% to 3,042, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4%  at 2,088 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2 % to 22,132 today.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, all the key sectoral indices gained with PSU, FMCG, Capita l Goods, consumer durables, oil and gas and bankex leading the gain on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Tata Steel gaining 2.8%, Jindal Steel added 2.6%, Hero MotoCorp gained 2.6%, ICICI Bank gained 2% on the BSE.

The laggards were NTPC fell 1.2%, Dr Reddy’s declined 0.5%, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors were down 2% and 0.7% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Atul Auto has soared 9% to Rs 163 after reporting a 38% year-on-year (yoy) growth at 3,204 units for the month of August 2013. The country's fastest growing manufacturer of three wheeler had sold 2,322 units in the same month year ago.

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) Financial Services has rallied 6% to Rs 267, extending its Friday’s over 8% surge on inclusion in the MSCI India Index with effect from today.