 "Markets trim gains; Sensex holds 27,00, metal shares surge")
Benchmark indices have come off day’s high but continue to trade higher tracking global cues and buying demand among financials and metal shares. The upside is capped due to selling pressure among select IT shares due to appreciating rupee.
Markets across the global are witnessing the upmove on taking cues from a rise in crude oil prices as well as overnight gains in US stocks after minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting led investors to further pare bets that the central bank will hike interest rates this year.
At 11:50 am, the Sensex has gained 237 points higher at 27,082 and the Nifty surged 64 points to quote at 8,194.
The broader markets are however, underperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.3-0.5%. The market breadth is healthy on the BSE with 1,489 advances versus 849 declines.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 48.89 crore yesterday, 8 October 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
In the currency front, the rupee strengthened by 20 paise to 64.86 against the dollar in early trade today on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid firm domestic equity markets.
Further, a Reuters poll showed that the retail inflation is likely picked up in September, driven by higher food prices, but will remain comfortably below the Reserve Bank of India's target and allow room for further policy easing.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian shares rose on Friday, taking their cue from a jump in oil prices and Wall Street gains after minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting damped down expectations of an imminent Fed rate hike.
The Fed minutes revealed the extent to which policymakers are concerned that a global economic slowdown might threaten the U.S. economic outlook. Though they said overseas turmoil had not "materially altered" economic prospects, they opted to hold interest rates steady last month.
Riskier asset markets, which had risen when the Fed held off raising rates in September, got a further boost on confirmation policy makers won't rush to tighten policy at a time of slackening global growth.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.6%, on track for a robust weekly gain of 6.7%.
The S&P 500 SPX closed at a seven-week high on Thursday, though S&P 500 e-mini futures ESc1 edged down about 0.1% in Asian trading. Japan's Nikkei added 0.8%, poised to gain 3.1% for the week.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Metal index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like Banks, Capital Goods, Auto and Consumer Durables, all gaining by 1% each.
The gainers from the Sensex pack are Vedanta, Hindalco, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors, Infosys and SBI.
Metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Group is planning to enter the solar segment in India by bidding for some 500 MW of government projects. Shares of Vedanta have zoomed by almost 10%.
Alcoa's third-quarter revenue slipped to $5.6 billion, a sharp decline of 21% mainly due to closures of non-competitive facilities. The impact of Alcoa's earnings highlights revenue visibility for Hindalco's Novelis unit. However, Hindalco is up over 3%.
Financials shares are trading higher after RBI eased risk weights on loans of up to Rs 75 lakh, provided the borrower brings in a bigger contribution towards financing the property. ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC have gained between 1-3%.
Tata Steel, which will commission a 3 million tonne steel plant in Kalinganagar by December, plans to scale up its operations gradually. Shares of Tata Steel are up over 3%.
Some natural gas from the fields of ONGC in the Bay of Bengal may have flown out through the adjoining, connected KG-D6 fields of RIL quoting US consultant DeGolyer and MacNaughton’s (D&M) preliminary observations. Meanwhile, a jump in the oil prices has lifted the sentiments. ONGC is trading higher by 2%, while RIL has gained 0.9%.
After the Dhamra Port acquisition, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) is again set to do business with the Larsen &Toubro group. Shares of L&T are up over 1%.
Other notable gainers are GAIL, Tata Motors, Infosys, Bajaj Auto and Hero Moto.
On the losing side, Coal India has slipped by over 1%. Government-owned Coal India has granted a bonus of Rs 48,500 each to its 332,000 non-executive workforce.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has withdrawn its appeal in the lawsuit filed by erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories in November 2014 in a US District Court against US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Shares of Sun Pharma are down nearly 1%.
SMART MOVERS
Elgi Equipments has surged 9% to Rs 149, extending its previous day’s 12% rally on the BSE, after private equity (PE) fund Nalanda Capital bought more than two percentage point stake in the company though open market.
Shares of Transport Corporation of India (TCI) have surged 18% to Rs 293 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company announced the board approved the scheme of arrangement between the company and its wholly owned subsidiary, TCI Express with the aim to eventually list it on the bourses as a separate company.
8K Miles Software Services has rallied 5% to Rs 1,874, also its new lifetime high on the BSE, after reporting more-than-doubled consolidated net profit at Rs 8.74 crore for the second quarter ended September 2015 (Q2) on back of strong operational income.
With Reuters input
