Sept trade data pushes Sensex up, financials gain

Markets extended gains in the afternoon session this Wednesday on back of buying witnessed in financials after country’s trade deficit narrowed to a two-and-a-half-year low in September.

The deficit for the month stood at $6.7 billion, the lowest level since March 2011, compared with $10.9 billion in August, the commerce ministry said today.

At 2:15PM, the 30-share Sensex rose 165 points to trade at 20,149 and the 50-share Nifty gained 47 points at 5,975 levels.  

The key trigger for markets now will be Infosys quarterly results this Friday that will kick start the earnings season for July-September quarter.

A heavily-bet Infosys could see large volume pick-up but very little price volatility, said analysts.

Meanwhile, global risk appetite was frail as US shutdown entered its second week, with an October 17 deadline for raising the borrowing limit approaching.

The broader markets traded higher with mid-caps and small-caps adding 0.5-0.7 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,373 stocks traded, 1,223 stocks advanced while 993 stocks declined on the BSE.

RUPEE

Rupee gained in trades today after a better-than-expected trade data boosted sentiment for the local currency.

At 2:10PM, the partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.76 per dollar against the yesterday’s close of 61.80 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks traded mixed as US lawmakers wrangle over the debt limit and partial government shutdown.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 1% to 14,037, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.6% to 23,033, China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.6% to 2,211 while Singapore’s Straits Times was up 0.3% to 3,155.

European markets also opened lower. France’s CAC declined 0.1% to 4,130, Germany’s DAX shed 0.05% to 8,551 while UK’s FTSE was down 0.4% to 6,343.

STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral gainers were healthcare, capital goods, realty, oil & gas, power and IT while consumer durable sector declined on the BSE.

The laggards were Sesa Sterlite falling 1.3%, Mahindra & Mahindra dropped 1.2%, ICICI Bank shed 0.9%, Coal India declined 0.8% while Maruti Suzuki was down 0.7% on the BSE.  

The gainers were Sun Pharma surged 4%, Larsen & Toubro added 2%, HDFC Bank rose 1.7% while Reliance Industries gained 1.6% on  the BSE.