Volatility struck bourses in morning trade as the key benchmark indices regained strength soon after trimming initial gains. At 10:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 149.57 points or 0.56% at 26,675.03. The gains for the Nifty 50 index were lower in percentage terms than those for the Sensex. The Nifty was currently up 27.90 points or 0.34% at 8,168.65. Positive Asian stocks boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses.
The Sensex gained 205.09 points or 0.77% at the day's high of 26,730.60 at onset of the day's trading session, its highest level since 15 June 2016. The index rose 92.36 points or 0.34% at the day's low of 26,617.80 in morning trade. The Nifty gained 54.50 points or 0.66% at the day's high of 8,195.25, its highest level since 15 June 2016. The index rose 16.60 points or 0.2% at the day's low of 8,157.35 in morning trade.
In overseas markets, Asian stocks were trading higher after the previous day's sell-off and a rebound on Wall Street, ahead of the UK's upcoming 23 June 2016 referendum vote on its future within the European Union. US stocks closed modestly higher yesterday, 16 June 2016 ending a five-day streak of losses with telecoms leading sector advancers. Meanwhile, the Bank of England yesterday, 16 June 2016 kept its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and made no changes to its 375-billion-pound ($530 billion) asset-purchase program. All nine rate-setting policy makers voted to hold rate unchanged. The decision marked the last before the 23 June 2016 referendum in the UK on whether the country should stay or exit the European Union (EU). A vote to leave the EU could materially alter the outlook for output and inflation, and therefore the appropriate setting of monetary policy, the BOE said in a statement. The interest rate decision was announced after close of Indian market hours yesterday, 16 June 2016.
Closer home, the broad market depicted strength. There were over two gainers for every loser on BSE. 1,292 shares advanced and 582 shares declined. A total of 122 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.46%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.62%, outperforming the Sensex.
Index heavyweight and engineering and construction major L&T shed 0.07% to Rs 1,490.75. The stock hit high of Rs 1504.15 and low of Rs 1,487 so far during the day. L&T during market hours today, 17 June 2016 announced that its wholly owned subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Limited (LTHE) has won orders worth Rs 1170 crore across its various business segments.
Auto stocks saw mixed trend. Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.45%), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (up 0.74%), Tata Motors (up 0.99%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.08%) gained. Eicher Motors (down 0.21%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.8%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.05%), and TVS Motor Company (down 0.1%) rose.
Telecom stocks rose. Bharti Airtel (up 0.39%), Idea Cellular (up 0.35%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.15%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.96%) rose. MTNL fell 0.23%.
On the macro front, India's current account deficit (CAD) narrowed sharply to $0.3 billion (0.1% of GDP) in Q4 of 2015-16, significantly lower than $7.1 billion (1.3% of GDP) in Q3 of 2015-16 and marginally lower than $0.7 billion (0.1% of GDP) in Q4 of 2014-15. The contraction in CAD was primarily on account of a lower trade deficit ($24.8 billion) than in Q4 of last year ($31.6 billion) and $34 billion in the preceding quarter. The government announced the economic data after market hours yesterday, 16 June 2016.
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