Markets remain range bound ahead of F&O expiry

Markets maintained positive trend, amid range bound trades, ahead of the expiry of September F&O contracts later today.

Markets maintained positive trend, amid volatile trading session so far, ahead of the expiry of September F&O contracts later today.

At 1:10PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 34 points at 19,890 and the 50-share Nifty was up 9 points at 5,883.

The rupee gained ground today due to dollar sale by custodian banks. However, weakening concerns remain due to month-end dollar demand from importers.

At 1:05PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 62.19 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 62.44 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

Asian were trading mixed in late trades. Shanghai Composite was down 1.9%, Hang Seng was down 0.1% while Nikkei and Straits Times were up 0.5-1.2% each.

Metal index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 1.2% followed by Capital Goods, Healthcare and Bankex indices. However, Realty, Oil and Gas, FMCG and Consumer Durables were down 0.5-0.8% each.

Among the financials, HDFC and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the Sensex gains. Other gainers include, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, L&T, Wipro and Coal India.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was the top loser down 1.1% followed by ITC and Hindustan Unilever which were down 0.6-1.3% each.

Other Sensex losers include, ONGC, GAIL and Bharti Airtel.

Among other shares, Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) may still be grounded but its shares have taken a strong take off so far this month. Ever since Mallya said he was still working on a deal to finance the debt-laden airline with a foreign player, shares of KFA are continuously hitting upper circuit on the stock exchanges. Currently, the stock is trading at Rs 6.21 or 9.91% up on the BSE.

Shares of shipping companies have rallied up to 16% on the bourses as the Baltic Dry Index jumped 5.2% on Wednesday to its highest since December 23, 2011. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Mercator, ABG Shipyard, Bharati Shipyard and Varun Shipping Company are up 5-19% in early noon deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).