Sensex stays on solid footing, Nifty above 5800

Markets continued to trade firm in the afternoon session this Tuesday on hopes of global growth recovery after upbeat data from China and Japan.

Japanese second-quarter GDP rose at an annualized 4.1 percent expansion in the first three months of this year. Further to this, Tokyo won its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics which may help boost economy.

Sentiments also improved after China’s consumer inflation stayed below target for an eighth month. The consumer price index rose 2.6 per cent last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, matching the median forecast of a survey.

At 1PM, the 30-share Sensex rose 472 points at 19,742  and the 50-share Nifty gained 141 points at 5,821  levels.

The broader markets rose with mid-caps and small-caps gaining nearly 1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,117 stocks traded, 1,334 stocks advanced while 675 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee gained ground today after the slew of reforms announced by the central bank last week coupled with strong trend in Emerging market currencies.

At 1PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 64.30 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 66.01 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose, extending the longest rally in the benchmark equity gauge this year, and the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit climbed before Chinese factory output and retail sales data expected to show growth in August. Crude oil slipped for a second day and credit risk fell.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 1% at 14,353, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.3% at 3,098, China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.4% at 2,220 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 22,869 today.

European stocks advanced to a three-week high as data showed Chinese industrial production and retail sales rose in August, adding to signs the global economy is rebounding

France’s CAC rose 0.8% to 4,073, Germany’s DAX added 1% to 8,375 while UK’s FTSE was up 0.71% to 6,577.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, all the key sectoral indices gained which includes capital goods, metal, consumer durables, PSU, FMCG on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Tata Motors surging 7.6%, Larsen & Toubro rose 6.4%, HDFC gained 5%, HUL added 3.9% on the BSE.

The laggards were Dr Reddy’s falling 1%, GAIL declined 0.4% while BHEL fell 0.2% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as HCL Technologies has soared over 5% to Rs 1,073, also its historic high, in early noon deals on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Information technology (IT) firm last week announced it has bagged a contract from Direct Energy, a North American energy services firm, to implement and manage residential billing and customer care operations. The company did not disclose the contract size.

Wockhardt has surged 12% to Rs 574 on reports that Avanir Pharma signs settlement agreement with the pharmaceutical firm on Nuedexta patent litigation.