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Benchmark indices are trading marginally positive after touching new all-time highs in the opening trades.
By 10:20, the Sensex was higher by 40 points at 21,204 mark and the Nifty declined by 4 points at 6,304 levels. Sensex had touched an intra-day high of 21,206.77 on Jan 10, 2008.
According to Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst at Nsetoday.com, ‘Stiff resistance on charts expected for Nifty in near term is around 6340. Traders watch this level closely as close above this level would open doors for 6390 & 6420. Uptil now if noticed Nifty touched 6333 and form their corrected and now trading in a range of 6305 - 6320. Traders must watch this level of 6340 very closely.
As we are at the peak and entering fresh positions would not be advisable for investors, however one could wait for some technical correction and then enter the markets for a short term horizon whereas if you have some positions one must book profits on rise.”
The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds made massive purchases of Indian stocks on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1875.87 crore on Thursday, 31 October 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The Eight Core Industries having a combined weight of 37.90% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 8% in September 2013, posting highest growth in last 12-months, data released by the government after trading hours on Thursday, 31 October 2013, showed.
Fiscal deficit was Rs 4.12 lakh crore during April-September 2013, or 76% of the full-year target, government data showed on Thursday, 31 October 2013. In the annual budget presented in February, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had committed to narrow the fiscal deficit to 4.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) this fiscal year from 4.9% a year ago.
On the global front, Asian manufacturing activity picked up in October led by China, where factory sector growth hit its fastest pace in 18 months off the back of new orders, purchasing managers' reports showed on Friday.The surveys provide a more upbeat view of world demand following a month in which a political standoff in Washington over the US debt ceiling and the sixth straight cut in IMF global economic forecasts had raised fresh concerns about the health of the global economy.
China's official purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 51.4 in October, up from 51.1 in September and above expectations for a reading of 51.2. A PMI reading above 50 suggests expansion from the previous month, while a figure below 50 points to contraction.
Back home, the rupee weakened in early trade today tracking the Non Deliverable Forward (NDF) market.
At 10:20 am, the rupee was trading at Rs 61.86 compared with previous close of Rs 61.50 per dollar.
BSE Realty, Bankex, Auto, Capital Goods, PSU and Metal indices have spurted between 1-2%. However, BSE Consumer Durables index has declined by nearly 2%.
Auto shares are up ahead of their October sales numbers. Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki were up 0.4-2.4% each.
In the financial segment gainers include, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC and SBI.
Days after RBI hiked short-term lending (repo) rate by 0.25%, State Bank of India (SBI) today raised fixed deposit rate by 0.2% on select maturity.
Sesa Sterlite has surged after reporting Q2 result after trading hours on Thursday. The stock was up 0.57%. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 358.65% to Rs 2394.37 crore on 8410.59% jump in total income to Rs 26266.22 crore in Q2 September 2013 over Q2 September 2012.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices. The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,061 shares advancing and 584 shares declining.
