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Benchmark indices have opened higher amid expectations of a further fall in consumer inflation numbers to be released later today aided by buying in rate-sensitive stocks which saw Nifty reaching all time high at 8400.
The government will unveil industrial production data for September 2014 and consumer price inflation data for October after market hours today.
At 10:10 AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 169 points at 20,079 and the 50-share Nifty was up 36 points at 8,398.
In the broader market, BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices have gained around 0.5% each. The market breadth is significantly positive with 1,144 advances against 536 declines.
Anand Rathi in its morning report mentions that Nifty is likely to hold above 8290-8300 levels to continue the up move towards recent life time high of 8383 then 8420 and 8450 levels. On downside immediate support at 8280-8290 zones and below that profit booking may drag index to 8230 levels.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 458.04 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Sectors and Stocks
BSE Bankex and Auto indices have gained around 0.5-0.6% each while BSE Capital Goods and Power are under pressure and are trading flat with a negative bias.
Hopes of a rate cut by RBI in its December monetary policy update following the anticipated fall in inflation numbers has boosted rate-sensitive auto and bank stocks.
Among bank shares, SBI and ICICI Bank have gained around 0.8-1.4% each. HDFC Bank is down 0.2%. HDFC Bank's request for a post-facto approval to the hike in FDI limit in the bank will be considered by FIPB on Friday.
Meanwhile, auto stocks are also gaining. Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors have gained close to 1% while Hero Motocorp is up 0.6%. Earlier, Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra announced price increases by 1-2% citing higher input costs.
IT shares have rebounded from yesterday's decline. TCS has gained around 0.8%, Wipro has gained 0.5% and Infosys has gained 0.3%
Tata Steel, BPCL, Eicher Motors, Max India, National Aluminium Company, Oracle Financial Services Software, Oil India, and Reliance Infrastructure will announce July-September quarterly results today.
Global Market
In Asia, Japanese stocks have jumped on Wednesday as investors cheered reports that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will delay a planned sales tax rise to rejuvenate Japan's fragile economic recovery, and call a snap election to secure his political position.
The Nikkei benchmark has gained 1.4% to 17,356.75, hitting fresh seven-year highs.
Fixing of November, 17 as the date for linking the stock markets of China and Hong Kong has lifted Chinese shares. Hang Seng has gained around 0.2% while Shanghai Composite is trading flat.
Overnight, the Dow and S&P 500 eked out a fifth session of record closing highs on Tuesday, barely extending the market's recent rally in light volume as consumer discretionary shares gained.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed flat at 17,615, a record high close. The S&P 500 too closed flat at 2,040, which was also a new record. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to 4,661.
(With Reuters input)
