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Markets have opened the first session of the week on a positive note mirroring strength in the global peers as a sluggish US jobs data eased fears of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve this year. Meanwhile, a higher-than-expected interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week continues to cheer the street.
Investors will watch out for the data for India's services PMI for September 2015 is scheduled for release by Nikkei India Services PMI tomorrow.
At 10:30 AM, the Sensex has gained 417 points to quote at 26,636 and the Nifty has surged 116 points to trade at 8,067. In the broader market, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are trading 1% higher and are performing in line with the larger peers. The market breadth is firm with 1,273 advances versus 273 declines.
GLOBAL STOCKS
Asian stocks have rallied after the hopes of a possible interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve waned on a the back of a sluggish US jobs data t racking gains on the Wall Street, Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Komg’s Hang Seng rose 1.5% and 1.7% each.
Data released Friday indicated US non-farm payrolls increased by 142,000 in September, considerably lower than the 203,000 jobs the markets had expected. Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite surged 1.2% and 1.7% respectively.
On Friday, the European equities also finished higher with major indices ending with nearly 1% gains.
STOCK TRENDS
On the sectoral front, all sectoral indices are trading firm with BSE Bankex, Capital Goods, Power, IT and Auto indices are trading higher than 1% each.
ICICI Bank on Thursday reduced its base rate by 35 basis points to 9.35%, which will be effective from today. The stock has surged 2%.
Sales of Tata Motors passenger and commercial vehicles (including exports) were lower by 2% at 45,215 units, sold in September 2015, over 46,154 vehicles sold in September 2014. n commercial vehicles, medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) sales grew by 52% to 15,915 units in September 2015 over September 2014. The stock has jumped over 7.5%
LIC increased its stake in Hero MotoCorp to 7.16% at September end as compared to 4.77% for the quarter ended June. The stock is up 1.6%.
NTPC will consider selling electricity to Bangladesh from its upcoming 750 MW plant at Kokrajhar in Assam once the neighbouring country finalises plans to buy power from Palatana project in Tripura. The stock is trading with marginal gains.
IT major Infosys has surpassed private sector lender HDFC Bank, becoming the third most valued Indian firm in terms of market valuation, with TCS leading the top 10 companies chart, followed by RIL. Infosys is trading with marginal gains.
Biocon has acquired business assets of Acacia Life Sciences Private Limited at Parawada.The stock has gained 1.2%.
TVS Motor is trading marginal higher after reporting a marginal drop in sales during the month of September at 232,775 units as against 236,751 units recorded in the month of September 2014.
Adani Ports and L&T have signed a pact to oversee operations of Kattupalli port in Tamil Nadu. L&T is up 1.3%.
NMDC has slashed prices of iron ore fines by more than 52 per cent to Rs 1,460 per tonne for the current month as compared to Rs 3,060 a tonne in January this year as it faces subdued ore demand. The stock is down 0.5%.
