Markets erase early gains; ONGC dips 5%, Infosys rise

The main gainers on the Sensex are Infosys, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, HUL and NTPC

Benchmark indices have erased early gains and have turned flat with the Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone

By 10:30, the Sensex was lower by 27 points at 25,220 mark and the Nifty dipped by 16 points at 7,542 levels.

The main gainers on the Sensex are Infosys, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and NTPC.

On the losing side, ONGC has declined by over 3%. Oil prices rose in Asian trade today with escalating violence in Iraq sharply in focus as militants attacked the major crude producer's biggest refinery and seized more territory.



****************************************
Updated at 9:30

Markets have started the trading session on a higher note tracking firm global cues along with capital goods and software shares leading the gains.

By 9:30, the Sensex was higher by 137 points at 25,380 mark and the Nifty gained by 33 points at 7,592 levels.

"The market is currently in an indecision phase. There is an immediate resistance (for the Nifty) at 7,680 and 7,700 levels on the upside and support resides at 7,500 and 7,480 levels on the downside. One can expect trending action only on breach of either side, till then expect ranging action to continue in the near-term," points out Vikas Salunkhe, a technical research analyst with Nirmal Bang Research.

"Bank Nifty, on the other hand, faces immediate resistance around the 15,430 levels on the upside and on a decisive close above expect rise to 15,650 & 15,850 levels. There is an Immediate Support at 15,450 levels on the downside," he adds.

Asian stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, riding on the optimism of Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve gave a positive assessment of the world's largest economy and committed to retaining its accommodative monetary policy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.4%. Tokyo's Nikkei climbed 0.4%, with a stronger yen tempering gains.

US MARKETS

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended at a record high on Wednesday after the Fed hinted at a slightly faster pace of interest-rate increases starting next year but suggested rates in the long run would be lower than it had indicated previously.

The Fed's policy statement changed little from the one issued after its last meeting in April, repeating that interest rates would remain near zero "for a considerable time" after the bond buying ends.

The central bank said unemployment remained "elevated" despite recent job growth, and noted that its preferred measure of inflation was still running below target.

INDIAN MARKETS

The rupee strengthened to 60 per dollar on Thursday, its highest in almost a week, after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled that interest rates will stay low for a while yet.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 366.18 crore on Wednesday, 18 June 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Realty, Power and Consumer Durables indices have gained over 1% followed by counters like Banks, Metal, Auto, IT and Healthcare, all gaining by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas index has declined by nearly 0.5%.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include NTPC, BHEL, L&T, Tata Power, Infosys, M&M, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma.

On the losing side, ONGC has slumped by nearly 3%.

Brent crude rose to a nine-month high on Wednesday as investors worried about exports from Iraq, while U.S. crude dipped after government numbers showed domestic crude inventories fell much less than an industry group had reported.
Meanwhile, rail stocks are in limelight and trading higher by up to 5% after Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce and industry minister said that the country needs foreign direct investment (FDI) for expansion of railway network.

Titagarh Wagons, Kalindee Rail Nirman, Kernex Microsystems and Texmaco Rail and Engineering rallied 3-5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The broader markets are performing well in line with the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained by nearly 1%.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,197 shares advancing and 374 shares declining.