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Benchmark indices are trading steady in the morning trades led by banking shares amid firm global cues. Fresh buying is evident in Oil & Gas space on the back of declining crude oil prices.
At 11:35AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 103 points at 26,463 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 27 points at 7,919.
The broader markets are trading in line with the large counter parts. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.4% and 0.2%, each.
Market breadth is strong with 1,392 gainers and 1,124 losers on the BSE.
Asian Markets:
Asian shares rose in early trading on Friday, after upbeat US data sparked another record close on Wall Street.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is up 0.1% in early trading, on track for a weekly gain of 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei stock average has added 0.2%, poised for a robust 1.9% weekly rise. Following the tandem, hang Senh and Shanghai are up 0.3% and 0.2% respectively.
Rupee:
The rupee is trading at 60.52/53 versus the dollar after hitting 60.49, its highest since July 31 and higher than Thursday's close of 60.67/68. The pair is seen in a range of 60.40 to 60.80 during the session.
Traders will monitor debt market flows after foreign funds bought $2.65 billion in a single session on Wednesday.
Back home, overseas investors bought shares worth 4.13 billion rupees ($68.07 million) on Thursday, provisional data shows.
Sectors & Stocks:
On the sectoral front, BSE Bankex is leading the rally up over 1% followed by Oil & Gas, Capital goods and IT indices. However, Realty, Healthcare and FMCG indices are losing sheen on the BSE. Power and Consumer Durables indices are trading flat.
Banking shares led by PSU banks are hogging limelight during the morning trades after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government was working towards bringing in more professionalism in the functioning of banks and improving risk management, amid the backdrop of the recent scams in some public sector banks. SBI is up 3% followed by Axis Bank and HDFC Bank up over 1%. Also, ICICI Bank has gained 0.3%.
Metal pack which lost sheen yesterday after the government hiked royalty on iron and bauxite are trading higher today on fresh capital infusion. Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel have climbed between 0.5-2.5%.
Oil and Gas shares are witnessing an upsurge on the back of declining crude oil prices. ONGC, GAIL and RIL have gained between 1-1.5%.
IT space is trading higher with Infosys leading the rally on the 30-share Sensex on the back of positive US economic data. TCS and Wipro have added 0.6% and 0.3%, each.
In the auto space, M&M is up 1%. Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors are trading in green. As petrol prices are market-linked and declining crude oil leads to falling petrol costs. Auto shares are expected to witness an upsurge as demand for passenger vehicles and two-wheeler makers are bound to occur.
On the flip side, Pharma stocks are witnessing heavy selling. Drug maker Sun Pharma is the biggest loser of this hour down over 1%. Dr Reddy’s Lab has added 0.8%.
Coal India, HDFC and HUL are some of the notable names in red among others.
Among other shares, shares of sugar manufactures are in demand and trading higher by up to 7% on the bourses on reports that the government may give some relaxations to the sugar industry after the World Trade organization (WTO) rejected India's contention on raw sugar export subsidy.
Dhampur Sugar Mills and Oudh Sugar Mills have rallied 8% each at Rs 55.25 and 24.45 respectively on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
United Spirits has dipped nearly 4% to Rs 2,317 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the exchange has excluded the company from its equity derivatives segment, since the company has not submitted results for 2013-14 and the quarter ended 30 June.
