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Markets ended marginally higher on Tuesday led by rate sensitives with financials leading the gains ahead of the inflation data on Wednesday.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 35 points at 27,910 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 18 points at 8,363.
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(Updated at 2:30PM)
Benchmark indices are trading flat with a positive bias as fresh buying in select oil and gas stocks and rate sensitive shares have erased early losses.
Generating positive cues for the markets, a Reuters’ survey has estimated the consumer inflation rate for the month of October to cool down to 5.8% from 6.4% in the previous month due to a sharp fall in food and oil prices.
If the predictions are validated in the official release of data tomorrow, the calls for a rate cut from RBI in its December monetary policy update are set to grow louder
At 2:30 PM, the 30-share Sensex and the 50-share Nifty both were trading flat at the level of 27,876 and 8,345 respectively.
In the broader market, BSE Mid-Cap index has gained around 0.3% and BSE Small-Cap index is trading flat. The market breadth is tad negative with 1,426 declines against 1,412 advances.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 355.30 crore yesterday, provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed.
Global Markets
Nikkei has outperformed its Asian peers and is currently up around 2% on reports that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may postpone a planned sales tax increase.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite are subdued on account of profit booking and are trading with a gain of 0.2% and a loss of 0.1% respectively. Chinese market had gained close to 2.5% in early trade boosted by the plans for linking stock markets of Hong Kong and China getting underway.
European markets have opened higher amid firm global cues. The fixing of Novemeber, 17 as the start date for a long-awaited tie-up between Hong Kong and China stock markets which will global equity investors to buy Chinese stocks from Hong Kong boosted sentiments as shares in those markets were the strongest among major world markets. FTSE 100 index has gained around 0.1%, CAC 40 and DAX indices are up around 0.4% each.
Sectors and Stocks
Oil & Gas sector, up around 1% is the biggest gainer followed by rate sensitive sectors like bank and auto which are up around 0.3-0.4% each.
Consumer Durables sector, down 0.9% is the biggest loser ahead of the release of industrial production data later in the week followed by Information technology and FMCG sectors which are down around 0.3-0.4% each.
Oil & Gas stocks have witnessed fresh buying with Reliance and GAIL gaining between 1.3-1.6%. However, ONGC shares are an exception and have declined around 0.1%.
Rate sensitive auto shares are trading mixed. M&M shares have gained around 2.3%, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto shares are up around 0.3% each and Hero Motocorp is trading flat. Tata Motors is the lone loser among major auto stocks and has lost around 0.3%.
Hopes of a rate cut by the central bank has lifted some of the bank shares. Axis Bank has gained around 1.1%, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have gained 0.4-0.5% each. On the other hand, SBI is down around 0.5%.
A strengthening US Dollar has put pressure on IT stocks. Infosys has lost more than 1% and Wipro has shed around 0.2%. However, TCS is an exception to the trend and has gained around 0.2%.
Among pharma shares, Sun Pharma has gained around 0.7% while Dr Reddys Lab is down around 0.5% mainly on profit booking. Cipla too has declined and has lost more than 1%.
ITC has shed around 1% on profit booking after yesterday's rally which saw its stock gaining around 4%.
BHEL down around 2.6% and Bharti Airtel down around 0.9% are other major losers.
Among other shares, Jyothi Structures has slumped around 12% after posting a net loss of Rs 69.37 crore in the July-September quarter of 2015 fiscal. In the same quarter last fiscal the company had reported a profit of Rs 14.63 crore .
Ucal Fuel Systems extended gains and has surged 40% in two straight trading sessions. The stock has zoomed 20% to Rs 120, also its 52-week high on the BSE, after reporting over four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 8.40 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2), on back of strong operational performance.
(with Reuters input)
