Auto stocks advance

Key benchmark indices traded firm in morning trade after a strong start. At 10:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 328.81 points or 0.99% at 33,575.51. The Nifty 50 index rose 103.25 points or 1.01% at 10,355.35.

Exit polls predicting a clear win for the BJP in the assembly elections for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh lifted investor spirits.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.96%, underperforming the Sensex. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.32%, outperforming the Sensex.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,683 shares rose and 462 shares declined. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.

Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC advanced 1.2% at Rs 1,730.

IT stocks were mixed. HCL Technologies (up 1.25%), Wipro (up 0.42%), TCS (up 0.25%) and Infosys (up 0.09%) edged higher. Tech Mahindra (down 1%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.15%) and Persistent Systems (down 0.09%) edged lower.

Auto stocks advanced. Eicher Motors (up 2.52%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.35%), Tata Motors (up 1.32%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.07%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.83%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.77%) gained.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was up 0.79% after the company announced that it plans to increase prices of its passenger and commercial vehicles by up to 3% with effect from 1 January 2018. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 14 December 2017.

On the macro front, in a boost to Narendra Modi led NDA government at the centre, a host of exit polls predicted a clear victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded assembly elections for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Exit polls predicted that the BJP will retain Gujarat while wresting power from the Congress in Himachal Pradesh. Counting of votes for these two states is scheduled on Monday, 18 December 2017.

The winter session of the Parliament begins today, 15 December 2017. This session will have a total of 14 working days. The session concludes on 5 January 2018. The government has a slew of important Bills on its agenda in this session. The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 is slated to come up in this session of Parliament. This Bill aims to limit the impact of the failure of financial institutions like banks and NBFCs. It has also been cleared by the standing committee.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged lower with Japanese and Hong Kong markets leading declines in the region after US markets closed in the red. US stocks closed lower yesterday, 14 December 2017, as two GOP Senators raised some concerns about the tax bill.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has hiked its growth forecasts, but admitted that inflation still won't be on target by 2020. In its final meeting of 2017 held yesterday, 14 December 2017, the eurozone's central bank voted to leave interest rates on hold - and repeated its commitment to running an asset-purchase stimulus programme until at least next September.

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