Nifty below 7,550; Cipla up 2%, Tata Power dips 2%

Benchmark indices continue to remain volatile in a narrow range with positive bias.  By 10:05, the Sensex was higher by 42 points at 25,244 mark and the Nifty gained by 8 points at 7,545 levels.

WORLD MARKETS

An index of global stocks was near record highs on Friday while gold celebrated its biggest one-day rise in nine months as markets wagered policies would stay super loose in the United States, Europe and Japan for a long time to come.

Investors piled into bullion while selling U.S. government debt on the premise the Fed might be comfortable with higher inflation if it meant faster economic growth.

Japan's Nikkei consolidated at five-month peaks, while the broader TOPIX brought its gains to more than 10 percent in just the past four weeks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a fraction lower after rising 0.7 percent on Thursday.

Oil prices were mixed in Asia today but retained support near a nine-month peak as dealers track the unfolding sectarian conflict in Iraq fearing it could cause a major supply disruption.

Brent crude for August eased 15 cents to $114.91 in mid-morning trade, after rallying to $115.06 in London, its highest since early September.

INDIAN MARKETS

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 420.51 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The rupee today lost 18 paise to 60.26 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to increased demand for the US currency from importers.

BSE Consumer Durables index has surged by nearly 1% followed by counters like Banks, Realty, Oil & Gas and IT, all gaining marginally. However, Capital Goods, Auto and FMCG sectors are trading marginally in red.

The main gainers on the Sensex are Cipla, Axis Bank, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s Labs, NTPC and Tata Steel, all gaining between 1-2%.

On the losing side, Tata Power, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, M&M and HUL have declined between 1-2%.

Shares of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) were mostly lower after Brent crude hit a nine-month high of more than $115 a barrel on Thursday as the United States said it could send military advisers to Iraq, raising concerns about the escalating conflict. Higher crude oil prices will increase under-recoveries of PSU OMCs on domestic sale of diesel, LPG and kerosene at controlled prices. The government has already freed pricing of petrol.

BPCL (down 1.3%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.26%) have edged lower. HPCL is up 0.46%.

ICRA has surged 17% to Rs 2,780, also its record high on NSE, after Moody’s Corporation, the promoter of the company, said that it has secured a majority equity ownership stake in credit rating agency to over 50%.

The broader markets are trading marginally positive- BSE Midcap and Snmallcap indices are up 0.2-0.3%.

The market breadth in BSE remain marginally positive with 991 shares advancing and 831 shares declining.