Market drifts higher in early trade

Key benchmark indices drifted higher in early trade led by gains in index heavyweights HDFC and Infosys. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 166.47 points or 0.57% at 25,799.48. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 51.05 points or 0.65% at 7,911.80

In overseas markets, most Asian stocks rose as energy stocks rose on further gains in oil prices. US stocks closed higher yesterday, 16 May 2016 as a surge in oil prices and a rally in tech stocks overshadowed weaker-than-expected manufacturing data from the New York region. The Empire State general business-conditions index, which measures activity in the New York area, nosedived to a reading of negative 9 in early May, from positive 9.6 in April.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 962 shares rose and 270 shares fell. A total of 47 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.55%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.53%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Telecom stocks gained. Bharti Airtel (up 0.88%), Idea Cellular (up 0.98%), MTNL (up 1.13%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 1.66%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.59%) rose.

ITC rose 0.52% after the company announced that the scheme of amalgamation of BFIL Finance with Russell Credit became effective from 16 May 2016. BFIL Finance is a wholly owned subsidiary of Russell Credit, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC. Consequently, BFIL Finance has ceased to be a subsidiary of Russell Credit and that of ITC with effect from 16 May 2016. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 16 May 2016.

Coal India rose 0.41%. NTPC rose 0.75% after the company announced that it has entered into an agreement with Coal India for formation of a 50:50 joint venture company to take up the revival of fertilizer plants of Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL) at Sindri, Bihar and Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh by setting up an ammonia urea plant at each location. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 16 May 2016.

TCS rose 0.49% after the company said that it will along with Siemens leverage their longstanding partnership to expand and enhance the delivery of product performance intelligence through big data analytics to the global manufacturing industry. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 16 May 2016.

Wipro rose 0.09% after the company announced a partnership with Xactly Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise-class, SaaS and cloud-based incentive solutions for employee and sales performance management. The partnership will offer sales performance management (SPM) solutions for customer organizations across industry sectors in a software as a service model. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 16 May 2016.

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