Indian shares pared gains and fluctuated in late morning trades as investors remained uncertain over the ability of Congress-led UPA government to pass key reforms in the Parliament winter session starting from today.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has engaged in building consensus with his allies on the next round of economic reforms which includes overseas investment in multi-brand retail and aviation among others, which need parliamentary approval. However, investors remained in dilemma over lack of political support from leaders of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose obstructionist tactics washed out the last session.
At 11:20AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index was up 34 points comapred to earlier gains of 67 points to 18,494.39 while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty index was up 5 points from a gain of 22 points earlier to 5,619.10 levels.
Global risk appetite, however, remained firm as a survey showed China's manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in 13 months in November, adding to optimism after positive U.S. factory data that global growth recovery may gain momentum.
On Thursday, the U.S. stock market will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, and on Friday, it will close early at 1 PM.
The Asian markets were mostly trading higher as policymakers in Europe reassured markets that a deal on releasing emergency aid to Greece was close, while a cease-fire in the Middle East further boosted optimism.
The Hang Seng advanced 0.7% or 154 points to 21,678, Nikkei advanced 1% or 103 points to 9,326, Straits Times jumped 22 points to 2,981 and the Taiwan Weighted gained 17 points to 7,106.
Back home, on the sectoral front, banks, PSU and software makers on BSE rose between 0.3-0.5% each while consumer durables and oil & gas index were among the laggards, falling between 0.4-0.5% in the late morning trades.
Among the losers, Sun Pharmaceuticals fell 1.4%, Tata Motors dropped 1% while Reliance Industries declined 0.7% respectively.
Among other notable movers, Hindustan Copper and Blue Dart Express have rallied over 25% after initial fall of more than 4% each on back of heavy volumes.
Hindustan Copper has soared 15.5% to Rs 276, bouncing back almost 25% from intra-day low on the BSE. The stock hit 10-month low at Rs 222 in early trades on concerns that the government will offer shares at discount to the market price to lure investors.
Blue Dart Express too, has rallied 18% to Rs 2,024 on the BSE. The stock has bounced back 26% from intra-day low of Rs 1,605 DHL Express (Singapore) Pte, the promoter of the company has propose to sell 6.03% of its stake through offer for sale route on Friday.
Max India is trading lower by 4% to Rs 232 after the stock of plastic products maker turn ex-dividend today.
Shalimar Paints has surged 20% to Rs 154 after the stock turn ex-stock split today. The company has sub-divided the face value of equity share to Rs 2 from Rs 10 each in order to boost the liquidity of shares.
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose between 0.1-0.3% each.
The overall breadth is positive as 1,172 stocks have advanced while 1,042 stocks declined.
