Sensex hovers around 28,000; GAIL, Bajaj Auto top gainers

Benchmark indices are trading marginally higher led by renewed buying among oil and auto shares.

According to Morgan Stanley forecasts of global economies, India would have the fastest economic expansion among Asian countries and its gross domestic product is expected to grow by 6.3% in 2015.

By 10:25, the Sensex was higher by 66 points at 28,006 mark and the Nifty gained by 20 points at 8,377 levels.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices have gained by nearly 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,355 shares advancing and851 shares declining.

Meanwhile, the foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 690.61 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

The government will unveil WPI inflation data for October 2014 today.   

The rupee is trading weaker at 61.62/63 versus Thursday's close of 61.5450/5600.

On the global front, Asian stocks are trading mixed following fresh signs of slowing Chinese growth, while crude oil hovered near a four-year low in an oversupplied market.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.25%.

Brent crude edged above $78 a barrel on Friday but remained close to a four-year low because of concern over excess supply and uncertainty over whether oil cartel OPEC would cut production at a meeting in two weeks.

Back home, BSE Oil & Gas index has surged by over 1% followed by counters like Auto, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Metal and Realty, all gaining by nearly 1% each. Apart from Healthcare, all the sectoral indices are trading in positive zone.

Oil shares have rebounded in trades today after witnessing sharp selling pressure yesterday. The government raised the excise duty on petrol and diesel to boost revenues and contain budget borrowing that could put off a likely cut in the retail prices of the two fuels.

The main gainers on the Sensex are GAIL, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Coal India, Tata Motors, Wipro, SBI and Hindalco, all surging between 1-3%.

On the losing side, Tata Power is the top Sensex loser, down nearly 3% after the company’s revenue has declined on lower revenue generation from stand-alone power businesses, according to its July-September quarter results.

Cipla has lost around 2%. The company's consolidated net profit declined 16.58% to Rs 298.68 crore.

Other notable losers are Dr Reddy’s Labs, HUL, Sun Pharma, M&M, NTPC and HDFC.

Among other shares, fertiliser companies Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers and National Fertilisers are trading higher by up to 9% on BSE after reporting a strong set of numbers for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2).

Alstom T&D India has rallied 7% to Rs 425, extending its previous day’s 4% gain on BSE, after reporting a robust 71% year on year (yoy) jump in net profit to Rs 35.52 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2),  on back of strong operational performance.

Simplex Infrastructures has surged 10% to Rs 303 on National Stock Exchange (NSE) after Reliance Capital bought one million shares of construction and engineering company from the open market.