 "Sensex hovers near 27,000; Auto, financials lead gains")
Benchmark shares indices were firm in noon trades on Thursday, amid firm global cues, with auto and financials leading the gains. Global markets were trading firm after hopes on an interest rate hike by the US Fed faded because of weak economic data.
"Markets are tracking gains in global markets. Further, stock specific movement is seen post the earnings announcement or corporate annoucements," says Jayant Manglik, President-Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.
At 1:15PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 223 points at 27,003 and the 50-share Nifty was up 73 points a 8,181.
EARNINGS CORNER
Among the companies that are scheduled to announce their September quarter earnings include Mindtree, Mastek, LIC Housing Finance, Sintex, CCL Products, Karur Vysya, Himmatsingka Seide and Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares surged after weak economic data from US erased hopes that the US Fed would raise interest rate soon. The Nikkei ended up 2.2% while Japan's Nikkei gained 1.1% and Hang Seng rose 1.8% while Straits Times ended up 0.8%.
US retail sales and producer prices data out on Wednesday came lower than expected, signalling that the US Federal Reserve would delay hiking interest rates until 2016.
European shares were firm in early trades on Thursday tracking gains in Asia and hopes that the US Fed won't hike rates soon. FTSE-100, CAC-40 and DAX were up 0.5-0.7% each.
SECTORS & STOCKS
Except for IT index which was marginally down all other sectoral indices were trading higher led by Auto followed by Bankex among others.
Metal and mining stocks were trading mixed despite amid firm global commodity prices. Vedanta and Tata Steel are up 0.8% each while Hindalco eased 1.8% on profit taking after sharp gains in the previous few sessions.
With surplus availability of iron ore in the domestic market, imports are likely to shrink to five million tonnes (mt) in the current financial year, compared with 15 mt in 2014-15.
Tata Motors was the top Sensex gainer surging 6% after the company-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sold 47,634 units globally in September, up 3% compared to the same month last year.
Lupin gained nearly 2% after it signed a marketing agreement with drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim to sell the latter's anti-diabetes drug linaglipitin under its own brand name.
M&M came off its early highs and was trading marginally down. The auto major is planning to launch five more vehicles in the automotive segment in the current financial year, as it expects industry sales to pick up during October-December, a top company official said on Wednesday.
TCS is marginally down post its September quarter results. TCS is in talks with nine of the 11 payments bank licence holders to offer operational solutions, according to a highly placed source at the company.
The Australian government on Thursday gave its environmental clearance to the Adani Group's embattled Carmichael coal mine.
Australia's environment minister Greg Hunt was reported as saying that he has cleared the project based on "additional information provided by Adani and environmental groups". Shares of Adani Enterprises surged over 11%. Adani Power trimmed early gains and was up 1.5%.
Hindustan Unilever was down 1.4%. The FMCG major said price cuts for key products including soaps and detergents dragged down its profit in the second quarter, missing market estimates despite improved sales. However, its peer ITC was up 1.6%.
Among other shares, NIIT was up over 5% at Rs 97 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said it has been awarded a multi-year contract to provide managed training services to leading global bank Citi in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Snowman Logistics was up nearly 2% at Rs 94.80 on the BSE after the company announced that it has commenced a new warehouse located at Bengaluru.
Financial Technologies was up nearly 2% at Rs 115.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said it has concluded the sale of 11% equity stake in Indian Energy Exchange Ltd on fully diluted basis.
