Key benchmark indices continued to trade near the flat in early afternoon trade in lackluster session of trade so far during the day. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 29.31 points or 0.1% at 28,253.01. The gains for the Nifty 50 index were higher than the Sensex's gains in percentage terms. The Nifty was up 17.20 points or 0.2% at 8,723.60. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,510 shares rose and 799 shares fell. A total of 190 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.74%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.78%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks dropped with European banking sector concerns and lower crude oil prices dulling investors' appetite for riskier assets. Japan's Nikkei Average settled 1.31% lower. US stocks rose yesterday, 27 September 2016 after the first presidential debate between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican contender Donald Trump and a number of stronger-than-expected economic reports. Stocks are rising on the prospect of a Clinton presidency because the Democrat is viewed as a known quantity while some view Trump as being more unpredictable, a bad thing for stock investors. Additionally, US consumer confidence rose to 104.1 in September, the highest level since August 2007. The Case-Shiller home price index rose 5% for the year in July, while house prices rose 0.6%. The Markit flash services purchasing managers index for September rose to 51.9 in September from 51 in August.
Bharti Airtel rose 1.16% after the company announced the launch of its new International Roaming (IR) packs that redefine the value proposition for customers traveling abroad. With the new IR packs, customers will have the convenience of carrying their India mobile number wherever they go and stay connected 24x7 without having to worry about high call and data charges. The packs will be available to both postpaid and prepaid customers. The announcement was made during market hours today, 28 September 2016. The IR packs, which are available for all popular global destinations, come with validity of one day and 30 days, giving customers greater flexibility to plan their communication budgets when traveling overseas.
Airtel's new IR packs offer free incoming calls, free texts to India and ample data benefits along with free India calling minutes across all popular destinations. Charges for calls to India and local in-country calls have been reduced to as low as Rs 3 per minute across popular destinations. Airtel also announced that post the exhaustion of pack data benefits, international roaming data will now be charged at just Rs 3 per megabyte (MB), a reduction of 99% from Rs 650 per MB, so that customers can enjoy uninterrupted data usage without having to worry about bill charges.
Auto stocks gained. Ashok Leyland (up 0.55%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.39%), Eicher Motors (up 0.92%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.08%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.33%), Tata Motors (up 1.51%) and TVS Motor Company (up 0.83%) gained.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) gained 0.43% after the company said that it has agreed to acquire 1.49 crore shares or 100% of the share capital of Mahindra Two Wheelers Europe Holdings S.ar.l. from Mahindra Two Wheelers, a subsidiary of the company for Euro 26.3 million. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 27 September 2016. The indicative time period for completion of the acquisition is 30 days. MTWL-Europe is a special purpose vehicle to hold the investment in Peugeot Motorcycles S.A.S.
Separately, M&M said that Merakisan (MKPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra Univeg (MUPL), a subsidiary of Mahindra Agri Solutions (MASL), which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of M&M, allotted equity shares on preferential basis to Prashanth Patil. As a result of this allotment, the holding of MUPL in MKPL has reduced from 100% to 33.17%. Hence, MKPL has ceased to be a subsidiary of MUPL and as such of MASL and in turn of M&M. MUPL, a 60:40 joint venture between MAPL and Univeg announced a minority shareholding in MKPL. Prasanth Patil from the founding family of Merakisan is now the majority stakeholder of Merakisan and will be the CEO of the company. Merakisan shall operate in sourcing fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products directly from farmers ad sell to customers. The announcement was made during market hours today, 28 September 2016.
Metal & mining stocks also gained. JSW Steel (up 0.05%), Bhushan Steel (up 1.34%), Hindustan Copper (up 0.77%), Vedanta (up 2.52%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.63%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.7%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.49%), Tata Steel (up 1.1%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (up 1.48%), National Aluminum Company (up 0.66%) and NMDC (up 1.03%) gained.
High Grade Copper for December 2016 delivery was currently up 0.09% at $2.173 per pound on the COMEX.
Jindal Stainless rose 3.43% after the company said it received approval from Orissa Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) vide its letter dated 24 September 2016 conveying its no objection for effecting the transfer or right to use of the land on which the hot strip mill and the coke plant of the company are located, to Jindal United Steel (JUSL) and Jindal Coke (JCL), respectively. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 27 September 2016. Last year, JSL demerged its operations into three separate entities -- listed Jindal Stainless (Hisar) (JSHL) as well as private companies JUSL and JCL.
Vivimed Labs jumped 10.28% to Rs 113.20 after High-net-worth individual (HNI) investor Ashish Kacholia bought 13.73 lakh shares of the company at Rs 90.50 per share in a bulk deal. Shares of Vivimed Labs had gained by its maximum permissible daily limit of 20% to settle at Rs 102.65 yesterday, 27 September 2016.
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