Key benchmark indices continued to trade with small gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 97.80 points or 0.3% at 32,326.07. The Nifty 50 advanced 34.40 points or 0.35% at 9,998.95. The Nifty was trading below the 10,000 mark. It had briefly crossed that mark in early afternoon trade.
The Sensex rose 101.40 points or 0.31% at the day's high of 32,329.67 in early afternoon trade. It fell 2.19 points at 32,226.08 in early trade.
The Nifty rose 37.55 points or 0.37% at the day's high of 10,002.10 in early afternoon trade. It rose 1.40 points or 0.01% at the day's low of 9,965.95 in early trade.
Key indices opened the session with small gains amid initial volatility. Later, indices hovered in green with small gains amid positive signals from global markets.
Globally, investors await the outcome of a two-day US Federal Reserve's policy meeting scheduled later today, 26 July 2017. Markets will be watching for any signals about another possible rise in the benchmark lending rate in 2017, and on when the Fed will begin winding down its multi-trillion-dollar investment holdings.
Among secondary barometers, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.48%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.75%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,443 shares rose and 987 shares declined. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.
Metal and mining stocks surged as copper prices rose in global commodities markets. Hindustan Copper (up 6.13%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 5.58%), Tata Steel (up 2.24%), JSW Steel (up 2.07%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.91%), NMDC (up 1.86%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.94%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.63%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.05%) edged higher.
High Grade Copper for September 2017 delivery was currently up 0.98% at $2.8745 per pound on the COMEX.
Vedanta gained 2.17% at Rs 280.35, with the stock extending previous sessions' gains triggered by the company reporting strong Q1 results. The result was announced at the fag end of market hours yesterday, 25 July 2017. The stock had risen 3.66% to Rs 274.40 yesterday, 25 July 2017.
Vedanta's consolidated net profit rose 67.15% to Rs 2270 crore on 26.72% growth in revenue to Rs 18203 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016.
Revenue was higher due to higher volume at Zinc India & ramp-up at aluminium business and higher commodity prices partially offset by currency appreciation, lower volume at Copper India and iron ore and pot outages at 500 kilotonnes Jharsuguda-I smelter and TSPL fire incident in 17 April 2017.
IT stocks were mixed. HCL Technologies (up 0.44%), Persistent Systems (up 0.66%) and Wipro (up 0.14%) gained. Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.73%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.64%), TCS (down 0.5%) and Infosys (down 0.18%) edged lower.
Overseas, most Asian stocks edged higher tracking gains on Wall Street overnight.
US equities closed higher yesterday, 25 July 2017, after a slew of major companies reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Wall Street had also set its sights on the Federal Reserve, as the central bank kicked off a two-day monetary policy meeting yesterday, 25 July 2017.
The Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision later today, 26 July 2017. The Fed had raised the target range for its federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 1% to 1.25% during its June 2017 meeting.
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