Markets remain firm on Fed stimulus bets

Markets traded firm in early morning trades this Tuesday led by broad-based buying witnessed in index heavy-weights amid speculation the Federal Reserve will continue with its accommodative policy stance.

On Monday, Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve's vice chair, said U.S. central bank's aggressive monetary stimulus is warranted given how far the economy was operating below its full potential. Her comments helped support investor sentiment.

At 10:25AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex rose 138 points to end at 19,017 while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty gained 39 points at 5,737.

Mirroring the firm risk-appetite, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.22% to 2, 278 , Singapore's Straits Times added 0.3% to 3,247 , Hong Kong's Hang Seng  rose 0.44% to 22,638 while Japan's Nikkei gained 1% to 11, 767,

Overnight, Dow Jones gained 38 points to 14127.82 while Nasdaq rose 12 points to end at 3182.03

Back home, among sectors, barring consumer durables , rest all gained with, real-estate, capital goods, metal, bankex leading the gains on BSE.

Among individual stocks, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki gained 3% and 1% respectively, SBI and ICICI Bank rose 2% and 1% , Reliance Industries added 1.2%, Jindal & Hindalco rose 1% each, HUL up 0.8% on BSE.

The laggards included, Bajaj Auto dropping 1%, Bharti Airtel declining 0.5%, Dr Reddy’s down 0.3%,  Hero MotoCorp declined 0.3% while HDFC Bank shed 0.2% on BSE.

Among other notable movers, Tata Motors is trading higher by 3% to Rs 297 on reports that the company has slashed the prices of its Indica and Manza range of passenger cars by up to Rs 50,000 in order to prevent falling sales in recent months.

Essar Oil is trading higher by 5% to Rs 76.20 after the company said that the ministry of environment and forests has granted the phase-III clearance for the company’s Raniganj block in West Bengal, allowing it to increase drilling to 650 wells.

The broader markets traded gained with mid-caps and small- caps rising nearly 1% on BSE.

The market breadth was firm. Out of 1,647 stocks traded , 1,043 stocks advanced compared to 530 declined on BSE.