Markets gained for the third straight day as market players seem to have already discounted the much expected US interest rate hike that is due later today. The rally in the market was led by oil & gas and energy shares.
Provisionally, the S&P BSE Sensex has climbed 169 points to trade at 25,490 and the Nifty50 has gained 52 points to quote at 7,752
----------------------------------------------
More From This Section
Markets have maintained an uptrend in the late afternoon trades and are heading towards the third straight session of gains as market players seem to have already discounted the much expected US interest rate hike that is due later today.
By 2:45 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex has climbed 205 points to trade at 25,525 and the Nifty50 has gained 60 points to quote at 7,761.
The two day FOMC meet of the US Federal Reserve will conclude today in which the Fed Chair Janet Yellen is widely expected to announce the hike in the interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.
In another major development for the day, the Supreme Court of India has banned the registration of all new diesel cars with over 2000 cc capacity in Delhi-NCR till March 31st, 2016. As a step to curb pollution in the capital city, the apex court has also ordered that the taxis in Delhi be converted to CNG by March 31, 2016.
Following the order, the shares of CNG manufacturers are trading higher. Everest Kanto Cylinder has surged 16% on the BSE while Nitin Fire Protection Industries has climbed 1%
Meanwhile, while speaking at the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government will achieve its fiscal deficit target without any cuts in the government spending.
On the macro-economic front, India’s merchandise exports fell for the twelfth consecutive month in November this year.
KEY STOCKS
The oil & gas stocks have surged on the back of recovery in the crude oil prices as it bounced back from the multi-year lows. Cairn India, Gail India, ONGC, Reliance Industries have all surged between 0.2-4.2% each.
Further, the OMCs have also surged on the back of a cut in petrol and diesel prices by 50 paise and 46 paise respectively. BPCL, OIL, IOC, HPCL have all gained between 1-3% each.
Shares of TCS have climbed over 1% after the company announced that it has been selected by leading global aviation group Deutsche Lufthansa AG to provide testing services and help improve the quality of services of their technology operations.
BHEL has jumped 1.5% after the company announced that it has commissioned 500MW thermal power unit in the state of West Bengal.
HDFC Bank has advanced 0.8% after the bank issued and allotted on a private placement basis senior, unsecured, redeemable, long term, non-convertible bonds in the nature of debentures.
Following the Supreme Court order of banning new diesel luxury cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with engines beyond 2,000 cc from hitting Delhi roads, asserting it would not permit the rich to buy such vehicles that polluted the air and affected public health, M&M has skid over 5%.
Wipro is another loser in a firm market. It has slipped 0.5% after the company issued a warning saying that disruption of works at its Chennai facilities due to recent floods would impact third quarter (October-December 2015) performance.
The Supreme Court has ordered fresh testing of Nestle India's Maggi noodle samples at Mysore lab. Nestle India is trading flat.