Key benchmark indices extended early gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. At 10:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 162.74 points or 0.51% at 32,087.15. The Nifty 50 index was up 46.15 points or 0.46% at 10,063.10. Power generation stocks were in demand.
The Sensex was trading above psychologically important 32,000 mark in early trade after breaching that level in opening trade. The Sensex and the Nifty, both hit their highest intraday levels in more than two weeks in morning trade.
The Sensex rose 174.05 points, or 0.55% at the day's high of 32,098.46 in morning trade, its highest intraday level since 22 September 2017. The index rose 43.13 points, or 0.14% at the day's low of 31,967.54 in early trade. The Nifty rose 49.45 points, or 0.49% at the day's high of 10,066.40 in morning trade, its highest intraday level since 22 September 2017. The index rose 20.60 points, or 0.21% at the day's low of 10,037.55 in early trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.59%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.82%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,451 shares rose and 688 shares fell. A total of 93 shares were unchanged.
Most metal shares rose. Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.89%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.49%), Tata Steel (up 0.78%), Vedanta (up 0.76%), NMDC (up 0.70%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.60%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.46%), Bhushan Steel (up 0.17%) and JSW Steel (up 0.17%), edged higher. Steel Authority of India (down 0.18%) and Hindustan Copper (down 0.39%), edged lower.
Meanwhile, copper price edged lower in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for December 2017 delivery was currently down 0.11% at $3.057 per pound on the COMEX.
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Power generation stocks were in demand. NHPC (up 3.25%), JSW Energy (up 3.09%), Adani Power (up 2.50%), GMR Infrastructure (up 1.53%), Torrent Power (up 1.21%), Jaiprakash Power Ventures (up 0.94%), Tata Power (up 0.67%), Reliance Power (up 0.61%), NTPC (up 0.60%), Reliance Infrastructure (up 0.18%) and CESC (up 0.13%), edged higher.
State-run Power Grid Corporation of India was up 0.39%.
Coal India was down 0.75%. The company said that memorandum of agreement for National Coal Wage Agreement-X has been signed on 10 October 2017 for a period of 5 years from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2021. This agreement will impact 2.98 lakh coal workers and the total estimated avergae annual impact would be Rs 5667 crore. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 10 October 2017.
Axis Bank was up 1.51% to Rs 521.70 on media reports that a foreign brokerage has upgraded its rating on the stock to buy from outperform. As per reports, the foreign brokerage house said that Axis Bank can see rerating as its asset quality improves, making valuations look attractive after its recent underperformance.
Axis Bank has underperformed the market and corporate lenders by 15-20% on the back of disappointment on asset quality and weak earnings, the brokerage reportedly said. While stress loan ratio is high at 10% of loans, the brokerage said, it is stabilizing now. Moreover, the brokerage said normalisation of credit costs and bottoming of margins will aid better earnings trajectory from second half for the current fiscal onwards.
On the macro front, India's economic growth for 2017 and 2018 will be slower than earlier projections, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest World Economic Outlook released on 10 October 2017. The report cited lingering impact of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the expected slow down during the current and the next year. The IMF projected India to grow at 6.7% in 2017 and 7.4% in 2018, which are 0.5% and 0.3% less than the projections earlier this year, respectively. The IMF has meanwhile revised upwards, India's growth performance for 2016 in its latest calculations, owing to strong government spending and data revisions in India, which is now 7.1% as opposed to 6.8% in April.
Overseas, Asian were trading higher, taking cues from positive closing in the US market overnight. The euro strengthened after Catalonia's president stepped back from declaring immediate independence from Spain, easing near-term concerns about euro zone instability.
The US stock market rose to record highs on Tuesday after Wal-Mart announced a large buyback and Honeywell said it was splitting into two. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.31% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.23%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.11%.
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