 "Markets turn choppy; Nifty hovers near 8,180")
Markets ended higher helped by a rebound in late trades led by financials and engineering major L&T.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 191 points at 27,201 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 62 points at 8,242.
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(updated at 2:50PM)
Benchmark share indices firmed up in late noon trades led by L&T, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries.
At 2:50pm, the 30-share Sensex was up 207 points at 27,217 and the 50-share Nifty was up 62 points at 8,242.
In the broader market, both the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were trading flat with mixed bias.
The Indian rupee was trading lower by 12 paise at Rs 64.94 compared to the US dollar on demand for the US currency from importers after exports declined in September.
EARNINGS CORNER
Among the key results today, Reliance Industries would be keenly watched.
Other companies to announce their Q2 results today include Edelweiss Financial, Foods, NIIT Tech., R. S. Software, Swaraj Engines, Tata Metaliks and Tata Sponge.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Capital Goods was the top gainer up 1% followed by Metal, FMCG, Healthcare and Realty indices. Oil & Gas was the top gainer along with Auto and Capital Goods.
Reliance Industries was up nearly 1% ahead of the Q2 earnings due later today.
Auto stocks gained on hopes of higher demand during the festive season with most of them set to launch new models. Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp were up 0.5% each.
Tata Motors extended gains and was up 1.4%. The automobile company reported 21% increase in its global sales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles, at 97,102 units in September.
Oil marketing companies such as BPCL, HPCL, IOC were up 0.5-1.5% each on Thursday announced a rise of 95 paise in diesel rates, but kept the petrol prices unchanged to align the domestic prices with global product prices. Now, diesel will cost Rs 45.9, including local taxes, in Delhi. The new rates will be effective from Thursday midnight.
Telecom stocks Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular eased 1.5-3% each after regulator TRAI directed telecom operators to pay consumers Re 1 as compensation for every call drop experienced from January 2016 onwards.
Adani Enterprises has extended the gains and is up 2.6%. The Australian environment ministry on Thursday cleared the way for Adani Group’s $7-billion Carmichael mine and rail project in the Queensland province.
Vedanta was down over 1%. With uncertainty looming over its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district, Vedanta has started laying off workers at its one-million tonne per annum alumina plant.
ITC slipped 1.6% after rating firm CLSA cut its outlook to “sell” from “underperform” and kept its target price at Rs.315 per share.
