Barometers trade higher; metal shares in demand

The market continued to trade higher in mid-afternoon trade. Buying was broad based with metal stocks in the lead. At 14:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 295.34 points or 0.77% at 38,888.86. The Nifty 50 index was up 102 points or 0.89% at 11,540.20.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.89%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.23%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1211 shares rose and 1177 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged. In the Nifty, 39 stocks advanced and 11 stock declined.

Metal stocks rallied. National Aluminium Company (up 5.36%), Vedanta (up 4.84%), NMDC (up 4.68%), Steel Authority of India (up 4.26%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 3.52%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.89%), Hindustan Copper (up 2.72%) and Tata Steel (up 2.44%) advanced.

The S&P BSE Metal index was up 3.2% at 9,304.16.

Hindustan Zinc jumped 5.2% after a media house reported that the government is planning to sell its stake in Hindustan Zinc through offer for sale. As of 30 June 2019, the Government of India holds 29.58% stake while Vedanta holds 64.92% stake in Hindustan Zinc.

Most IT shares declined as rupee appreciated against the dollar. NIIT Technologies (down 1.27%), Infosys (down 1.1%), MindTree (down 0.98%), HCL Technologies (down 0.52%), MphasiS (down 0.45%), TCS (down 0.17%) and Wipro (down 0.13%) were top losers in IT segment. The S&P BSE IT was down 0.5% at 15,403.11.

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was hovering at 70.9675, compared with its close of 71.040 during the previous trading session.

Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.719% at 14:03 IST compared with 6.754% at close in the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for November 2019 settlement was down 11 cents at $62.28 a barrel. The contract fell 2.58% to settle at $62.39 a barrel in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 October 2019 settlement rose 0.05% at Rs 37,620.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his keynote address at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York on Wednesday, urged the global investors and businesses to invest in India to avail the golden opportunity arising out of its huge market, its huge infrastructure ecosystem and a growing startup ecosystem.

Modi said his government is working towards improving the business environment in the country. He also said that India is planning to invest $1.3 trillion in modern infrastructure as well as lakhs of crores on social infrastructure.

Among other highlights, Modi said corporate tax rate cuts are just the beginning of reform and "a lot" is yet to come. Climate change is a huge concern and India can become a model for the world to follow. The key to making India a $5 trillion economy is to linking its rules and laws to global standards. The government is working towards making sure that India utilises its demographic capital. Even with automation, there are ways to create jobs. Disaster resilience will soon become a huge market, he added.

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