Markets gain on growth recovery optimism

BSE-real-estate, bankex, auto lead gains on BSE

Indian shares edged higher this Monday ahead of  the Reserve Bank of India's fourth-quarter policy review on January 29 amid expectations the central bank will cut interest rates to boost growth into the Asia's third-biggest economy.

At 10:05AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 28 points and traded at  20,131 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty gained 7 points  at 6,081.10.

Most economists expect the RBI to cut its policy repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday to 7.75 percent. The central bank will release its macro-economic review for the October-December quarter after market hours today.

Risk-appetite also improved after robust US earnings in the fourth quarter coupled with rise in Germany's business confidence flaring hopes Europe's largest economy is gathering momentum after contracting late last year.

In the results calendar, Adani Ports, Adani Power, JSW Steel and Reliance Infrastructure are scheduled to release their third-quarter results today.

Globally, Asian shares traded firm. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 23,693, Taiwan's Weighted index gained 0.37% to 7,701,  Singapore's Straits Times inched up 0.21% to 3,276  while China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.44% to 2,324 and Japan's Nikkei was tad down 0.08% to 10,917.

Back home, real-estate, auto, IT, technology, consumer durables, banks indexes gained while oil & gas, capital goods, PSUs, metals fell on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp gained over 1.4%, Cipla rose 1%, Wipro and TCS gained 1% and 0.5% respectively, Tata Motors was up 0.6%, SBI gained 0.4% while HDFC and ICICI Bank was up 0.8% each on BSE.

Among losers, ONGC and Reliance Industries dropped 1% each, NTPC fell 0.7%, Sun Pharma fell 0.75%, HUL shed over 0.5% on BSE.
The other notable movers include, Jet Airways (India) which is trading higher by 3.3% at Rs 632, extending its Friday’s 4% gain, on reports that the country’s second-largest airline by passengers carried, will sell a 24% stake to Etihad Airways.

The broader markets rose with mid-caps  and small-caps  notching up by 0.4-0.7% on BSE.

The market breadth was firm. Out of 1,674 stocks traded, 1,050 stocks advanced compared to 554 declined on BSE.