 "Sensex up 200 points; GST meet in focus")
Benchmark share indices remained rangebound in late morning trades with index heavweights leading the gains and banks.
At 10:50am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 180 points at 27,710 and the Nifty50 was up 54 points at 8,574. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.8% each. Market breadth was strong with 1633 gainers and 660 losers on the BSE.
Index heavyweights firmed up on shortcovering after the correction in the previous sessions. HDFC, Reliance Industries and Infosys were up over 1%-2% each.
ICICI Bank was up over 1.4%. The stock had surged 7% in the previous session after the Essar group on Saturday signed a binding agreement with Russia’s Rosneft, United Capital Partners and Trafigura Group Pte. to sell 98% in its most priced asset, the 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery and Vadinar port in Gujarat.
Among other shares, Indian Hume Pipe has surged 16% to Rs 778, also its 52-week high on BSE, after the company said the board will meet on October 26, to consider issue of bonus shares to existing shareholders.
Aarti Industries hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 740, up 5% on the BSE in intra-day trade, after the company said the board has approved buyback of shares at a price of Rs 800 per share via the tender offer route.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was trading 1% lower at Rs 318 on BSE after the stock was traded ex-bonus on Tuesday in the ratio of 1:1.
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(Updated at 9:30am)
Markets opened higher on Tuesday, amid firm Asian cues, with bank shares among the top gainers led by ICICI Bank while gains in index heavyweights also aided sentiment.
At 9:30am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 202 points at 27,732 and the Nifty50 was up 57 points at 8,578.
"Till the Nifty holds below 8550 zones weakness may extend towards next meaningful support of 8400-8350 zones while on the upside multiple hurdles are seen at 8600, 8665 and 8680 zones. However it is now entering in oversold price territory as per the mechanical indicators but till it doesn’t get stability with an early sign of bottom formation, trend may remain weak over the next coming sessions," Anand Rathi Securities said in a technical note.
Further, the Centre is likely to propose a four-tier tax structure under the goods and services tax (GST), with a peak slab of 26 per cent. Almost 20-25 per cent of all taxable goods, including those consumed by the middle class, could come under the peak rate. The idea is to arrive at a common ground with the states that are concerned over revenue loss. The GST Council's two-day meet begins today.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continued to remain sellers in equities with net sales of Rs 457 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Gains were led by banks with SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank and Bank of Baroda among the top gainers
ICICI Bank extended gains and was up over 2%. The stock had surged 7% in the previous session after the Essar group on Saturday signed a binding agreement with Russia’s Rosneft, United Capital Partners and Trafigura Group Pte. to sell 98% in its most priced asset, the 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery and Vadinar port in Gujarat. According to a Business Standard report, the proceeds of the sale will be used to repay loans of both foreign and local lenders, which was around Rs 88,000 crore, Ruia said. Axis Bank was up over 1.5%.
Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC and Infosys which had eased in the previous session witnessed short covering at lower levels and were trading nearly 1% higher.
Global Markets
Asian markets edged higher on Tuesday on the back of recovery in global oil prices.Shares in Hong Kong emerged as the top gainer with the benchmark index, the Hang Seng up over 1% while China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.4%. Further, Japan's Nikkei and Singapore's Straits Times were trading 0.1% higher.
US markets ended flat with negative prices after weak crude oil prices overnight led to weakness in energy shares. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.3% at 18,086, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% at 2,127 and the Nasdaq settled 0.3% lower at 5,200.
