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The benchmark indices are consolidating the gains witnessed in the past four trading sessions. At 12.00pm, the Sensex is at 28,749, higher by 41 points and the Nifty is at 8730, up 16 points.
The benchmark indices had a gap-up opening this morning, with the Sensex racing ahead by more than 100 points, after the global rating agency Moody's changed India's outlook to positive and affirmed the country's Baa3 rating. However, the gains seen in the previous four trading sessions seemingly led the market participants to take some profits off the table and drag the Sensex to an intra-day low of 28,622, down nearly 100 points. But the benchmark indices have staged a recovery thereafter and now trading marginally in the green.
The broader market universe is continuing it outperformance vis-a-vis the benchmark indices. The midcap and smallcap indices is up about half a per cent each at 11,076 and 11,715 respectively as against the Sensex's gains of about 0.4%. The BSE small-cap index has hit a fresh seven-year high of 11,735 points, its highest level since January 2008.
SECTORS AND STOCKS
The banking index, especially the private banking space, is attracting investor interest after being subdued in the previous session. The private sector Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have gained between 1% and 2% each.
In the oil space, RIL has extended the gains of the previous session, soaring by 1.9% at Rs 882, on reports that the company has discovered massive gas reserves at MJ-1 block in its KG-D6 basin. However, HPCL and BPCL, besides ONGC are trading marginally in the red.
The pharma space is witnessing profit-booking post the recent gains. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Lupin, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Strides Arcolab, Wockhardt, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Cadila Healthcare are down 2%-3% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Bank of America Merill Lynch has downgraded Sun Pharma to underperform from buy and downgraded Lupin, Cipla and Cadila Healthcare to neutral from buy despite being positive on long term prospect. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Lupin dropped 2-3 percent.
The auto and FMCG sectors are subdued.
On the stock-specific front, Inox Wind is trading at Rs 419 on BSE, a premium of 24.91% over the initial public offer price of Rs 325. The company had made the public offer at a price band of Rs 315-325. The stock debuted at Rs 400 on BSE, a premium of 23.08% over its initial public offer (IPO) price. The stock hit a high of Rs 426.65 and a low of Rs 399.15 during the day.
Biocon has shed 2% to Rs 475 on the BSE after turning ex-dividend for an interim dividend of Rs 5 a share for the year ended March 31, 2015.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks are trading mixed with shares in Japan and Hong Kong hitting fresh multi-year highs. Japan's benchmark Nikkei was up 0.7% after hitting a 15-year high the previous day. Shares in Hong Kong also hit 7-year highs. The Hang Seng index has climbed 3.8% to its highest level since May 2008, boosted by strong buying from Chinese investors who used up the entire 10.5 billion yuan ($1.69 billion) daily investment quota in a cross-border program for the first time.
