)
The markets have registered modest gains in early trades in what could be a case of short-covering after five successive days of losses.
At 9.40am, the Sensex is at 27,731, higher by 55 points and the Nifty has reclaimed the 8400 mark and is at 8414, up 36 points. The midcap and smallcap indices are also marginally in the green at 10,526 and 11,394 respectively.
The Sensex had shed 210 points and the Nifty had broken the 8400 mark in the previous session to make it five successive days of losses, and this morning's modest gains could be attribute to short-covering on the part of market participants.
"Technically, the Nifty faces a major hurdle at 8,540 and 8,600 levels. Supports exists at 8,350 and at 8,270. A break of 8,270 will drag the sentiment heavily. Investors should look for adding Technology stocks in the recent weakness," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of technical research, Kotak Securities in a note.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Most Asian stock markets were trading higher on Wednesday with shares in Japan gaining the most and the benchmark Nikkei reclaiming the 20,000 mark and hitting a new 15-year high.
The Nikkei was up 1.1% at 20,126. The recent liquidity push by China's central bank to increase lending and boost economic growth also aided sentiment. The Shanghai Composite was up 1% while the Hang Seng also extended gains and was up 0.4%. However, Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.1%.
US stocks ended mixed with Dow Jones retreating from 18,000 levels amid lower-than-expected earnings from select corporates while the broader S&P 500 ended flat with negative bias. However, the tech-laden Nasdaq ended with marginal gains amid reports of a possible merger in the biotech sector.
The Dow Jones ended down 85 points at 17,949.59 and the S&P 500 ended down 3 points at 2,097.31 and Nasdaq Composite ended up 20 points at 5,014.10.
SECTORS AND STOCKS
The capital goods, pharma and banking indices are the leading sectoral gainers on the BSE.
In the capital goods space, Bharat Electronics, BEML and Siemens hacve strengthened by about a percent each.
In the banking space, Yes Bank has added 1% vat Rs 792 ahead of its results. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank aare also up by about a percent each.
In the pharma space, Dr Reddy's has gained by 1.9% at Rs 3529. Sun Pharmaceutical has added 1.4% at Rs 965 after media reports suggested that the company's promoter Dilip Shanghvi has not purchased any additional shares in the company following the stake sale by Daiichi Sankyo. Cadilla healthcare, Apollo and Wockhardt have added around a percent each.
Among other individual stocks, Wipro is subdued after the IT major reported disappointing earnings with just two per cent growth in net profit for the March quarter compared to the year-ago period. The March quarter performance was hit by currency volatility and softening of demand in the key energy sector. The IT major is quoting at Rs 557, lower by Rs 21 or 3.7%, on the BSE.
Natco Pharma has shed 2.2% at Rs 2105; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has launched a $40 billion bid for Mylan, which is Natco's marketing partner for the generic version of Copaxone.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, on the other hand, has lost 14.3% at Rs 1335 after the Reserve Bank of India sanctioned the scheme of Amalgamation of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and made it effective from 1 April 2015.
