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Markets ended higher amid a choppy trading session following the expiry of November 2014 derivative contracts today.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 103 points at 28,489 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 25 points at 8,500.
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(Updated at 15:10PM
Benchmark indices continue to trade in a tight range ahead of the expiry of November derivative contracts today.
At 2:10PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 21 points at 28,365 and the 50-share Nifty was trading flat at 8,476.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices on F&O expiry day. BSE Micap and Smallcap indices are up by almost 1% each.
The market breadth in BSE remains marginally positive with 1,463 shares advancing and 1,305 shares declining.
On the macro-economic front, a Reuter’s survey has estimated the GDP growth rate for the July-September quarter to come around 5.1% down from 5.7% in the previous quarter. The official figures will be released tomorrow by the government.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Dec 1 to urge a cut in interest rates when the central bank holds a policy meeting the next day, a senior finance ministry source said
Today, the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will hold one of its toughest and most significant meetings in recent years in Vienna, with members under pressure to address falling prices, which have sunk 30% since June.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 181.46 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
At 2 PM, the rupee was trading at 61.85 versus Wednesday's close of 61.84. However, the dollar is likely to firm up on the back of demand from importers to meet month-end commitments.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks hit a one-month high on Thursday as investors bet that more central bank stimulus in China and Europe would shore up the global economy, while oil prices tumbled to a four-year low as hopes for output cuts by OPEC faded.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.3% while Shanghai shares hit a three-year high, extending their rally after a surprise interest rate cut last week. They are up 8.2% so far this month.
Japan's Nikkei shed 0.8% as the yen rebounded mildly but has gained 5.1% so far this month to become the second best performing market in the region after China following a surprise easing by the Bank of Japan at the end of October.
SECTORAL INDICES & BUZZING STOCKS
BSE Consumer Durables and Capital Goods indices have plunged by almost 1% each. However, BSE IT and Power indices are up by nearly 1% each.
The main losers on the Sensex are Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, ITC, HDFC, Axis Bank, L&T and Sesa Sterlite.
ITC and HDFC which had led gains in the previous session witnessed profit taking and are down 1-2%.
Bank shares are also witnessed profit taking at higher levels with SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank down 0.6-1% each.
On the gaining side, Hindalco, HUL, M&M, Infosys and BHEL have gained between 1-3.5%.
IT shares have seen fresh buying on back of positive macro-economic data from US, the primary markets for Indian IT majors. Infosys is up nearly 2% while TCS and Wipro are up 0.3% each.
Shares of Infosys have moved higher and hit a fresh record high of Rs 4,363 in trade on National Stock Exchange (NSE) ahead of record date for bonus issue in ratio of 1:1.
Currency devaluation in Nigeria continues to weigh of stocks of Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto losing 1.9% and 0.3%, respectively.
Among other shares, Kopran has rallied 8% to Rs 61.05 on BSE after the company said it has allotted 2.05 million equity shares and 2.15 million warrants, worth of Rs 27.72 crore, to Oricon Properties Private Limited, a promoter group company.
Atul Auto has zoomed 15% to Rs 526, extending its previous day’s 4% gain on National Stock Exchange (NSE), after Goldman Sachs India Fund bought nearly 300,000 shares of the company from the open market on Tuesday.
