Sensex up 200 points, Nifty above 9550 ahead of F&O expiry; Axis Bank leads

Axis Bank, Infosys, L&T, Tata Steel and Asian Paints gained the most on BSE Sensex

Benchmark indices extended gains in the noon deals tracking Asian Markets after Wall Street ended higher in overnight trade ahead of the June F&O expiry. Gains were however capped after hawkish comments from major central banks signaled rate hikes and that the era of stimulus might be coming to an end.
 
In Britain, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney surprised many by conceding a hike was likely to be needed as the economy came closer to running at full capacity. Mario Draghi had earlier said that stimulus might need to be toned down so it does not become more accommodative as the economy recovers.
 
At 12:28 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 31,062, up 228 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,565, up 74 points.
 
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.8% and 1.3% respectively.

"Yesterday’s upwsings were restrained on anticipated lines, but equally significantly, the pull back thereof failed to gain momentum, hinting at the prospects of stronger upsides today. Such a move needs confirmation, and a break above 9540 could be taken as the initial indication. Alternatively, direct fall below 9470 should bring the downside objectives of 9370 or 9280 firmly in play," said Geojit Financial Services in a note.

Buzzing Stocks

Axis Bank, Infosys, Tata Steel, M&M and Bharti Airtel gained the most on BSE Sensex while Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Wipro fell in the late morning trade.

Axis Bank gained 4% after after the bank clarified to the exchanges that its 80% insolvent loans are secured.

Budget carrier SpiceJet was up 3.5% after it announced a “Mega Monsoon Sale” with one-way all inclusive fares starting at Rs 699. The stock has risen over 25% in June so far.

Bharti Airtel hits four month high of Rs 386, up 2.4%, extending its 3% gains of the last two trading sessions on the BSE. The stock is 4% away from its 52-week high of Rs 401 touched on February 23, 2017 in intra-day trade.

Shares of the Eris Lifesciences, which debut on the stock market today, was up 0.25% as against its issue price and down 1.2% against its open price. The company’s IPO was oversubscribed 3.29 times during June 16-20. 
 

June F&O expiry today 

For D-1, rollover for Nifty/Bank Nifty stood at 60/51% as against 56/40% during the previous expiry. Market-wide rolls stood at 59% higher than 56% observed in the previous series. Rollover of Nifty futures stood at 60% on D-1, which was higher than the average rollover of 55% seen in last three series.

“Market set for a thrilling finish to a dull month. Post the initial days burst out, Nifty was trading in a range of 9700-9550 levels for 18 days during the current expiry.  However, total rolls for Nifty 50 companies are on the lower side indicating a possibility of a minor sell off in last 30mins of trade,” said Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.

 
Global Markets
 
In overnight trade, banking stocks helped the S&P 500 score its biggest one-day percentage gain in about two months on Wednesday. The Dow rose 0.68%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.88% and the Nasdaq 1.43%.
 
Asia followed on Thursday with Japan's Nikkei adding 0.5% and Australia 0.8%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8% to its highest since May 2015.
 
(with inputs from Reuters)