Auto stocks advance

Key benchmark indices continued to trade firm in afternoon trade. At 13:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 321.78 points or 1.03% at 31,710.17. The Nifty 50 advanced 98.95 points or 1.01% at 9,895. Today's rally was led by index heavyweights HDFC, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. Positive opening in European stocks and higher Asian stocks boosted sentiment on domestic bourses.

Domestic stocks saw a gap-up opening triggered by mostly positive Asian stocks. Later, key indices hovered firm in positive terrain so far.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.47%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.42%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted strength. There were nearly three gainers against every loser. On the BSE, 1,786 shares rose and 621 shares fell.

IT stocks were mixed. Infosys (up 0.53%), Wipro (up 0.4%) and TCS (up 0.37%) gained. Tech Mahindra (down 0.81%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.54%) declined.

HCL Technologies was down 0.63%. The company said that it has opened a new delivery center in Gothenburg, Sweden. The new centre will be a key hub in HCL's global delivery network, providing cutting edge transformational IT services as part of the global shares services model. In addition, the Gothenburg office will also become HCL's global headquarters for its mainframe services and automative centre of excellence. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 29 August 2017.

Auto stocks advanced. Hero MotoCorp (up 1.11%), Tata Motors (up 1%), Eicher Motors (up 1.01%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.87%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.16%) edged higher.

Maruti Suzuki India rose 0.92% at Rs 7,594.85 after the company announced the transformation of its retail network across India with new showrooms christened Maruti Suzuki ARENA. The company will have four distinct retail channels under ARENA viz. Maruti Suzuki ARENA, NEXA, Commercial and TrueValue, addressing needs of all customers. The announcement was made during market hours today, 30 August 2017.

Overseas, European stocks opened higher as investors tried to oust any nerves surrounding North Korea tensions and took advantage of the positive sentiment seen overseas. Most Asian stocks edged higher after US President Donald Trump's measured response to North Korean missile launches and comments from Kim Jong Un suggested geopolitical tensions will ease off.

In economic news, Japan's retail sales growth slowed in July as shoppers spent less on clothes and cars. Retail sales rose 1.9% in July from a year ago but still slower than a revised 2.2% increase in the year to May.

US stock benchmarks yesterday, 29 August 2017 staged a recovery from heavy selling earlier in the session that came after a North Korean missile test over Japanese airspace rattled investors and sent Wall Street trawling for assets perceived as safe. North Korea had fired a ballistic missile over Japan yesterday, 29 August 2017 in an act the latter called an unprecedented, grave and serious threat.

In economic news, consumers confidence in US strengthened in August to the second highest level since late 2000, a survey released showed. The consumer confidence index rose to 122.9, up from 120 in the prior month, the Conference Board said.

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