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Benchmark indices are trading flat with a positive bias in the noon trades as gains in FMCG shares cap losses. Further, firm Asian cues have bolstered the sentiments of the market participants.
Earlier, the Sensex touched the life-time high level of 28,822.37 and Nifty reached all-time high mark of 8,626.95.
At 12. 50PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 75 points at 28,518 and the 50-share Nifty is up 7 points at 8,545.
In the broader market, BSE midcap and Smallcap indices are outperforming their larger counterparts and are up 0.3% each. Market breadth is positive on the BSE with 1,361 advances against 1,280 declines.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 391.07 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Key Stocks:
On the sectoral front, BSE FMCG index is the top gainer up 3% followed by Capital Goods index up 0.4%. However, BSE Metal and Consumer Durables indices are losing sheen and are down 0.5% each.
ITC has emerged as the top gainer with an advance of more than 5% on reports that the government is likely to put on hold its earlier Health Ministry proposal to ban the sale of loose cigarettes. Its peer HUL is up%.
Cipla has gained around 2.5%. Cipla and Meda pharmaceuticals have sued Apotex, the largest Canadian owned pharmaceutical company, to enforce the Orange-Book listed patents covering Dymista (azelastine HCl/fluticasone propionate) Nasal Spray.
However, Sun Pharma has lost around 0.5%. Ranbaxy which is in the process of being acquired by Sun Pharma came under pressure after Germany barred the export of a particular antibiotic from its Madhya Pradesh facility.
ONGC has gained nearly 1%. Oil Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan speaking on the side-lines of an industry event ruled out the possibility of exempting ONGC from subsidy pay-outs. Earlier, the minister had informed the Rajya Sabha about government’s plans to rework the subsidy sharing formula for ONGC.
ICICI has gained around 0.7%.Earlier, the stock touched fresh record high of Rs 366 on BSE after the stock turned ex-stock split today. The private sector lender had subdivided the face value of its equity shares to Rs 2 from Rs 10.
HDFC Bank is trading with marginal gains. HDFC Bank has become the first bank to rule out a joint venture partnership with any applicant for a payment bank.“We will not do a joint venture for a payment bank. We are a full bank ourselves and so we don’t need to form an alliance,” said Aditya Puri, MD, HDFC Bank.
BHEL has lost 1.6% on profit-booking. Yesterday, the stock had surged on successful commissioning of India's first phase shifting transformer by BHEL.
RIL is trading marginally in red. The government is considering ways to recover $195.3 million from the contractor of the KG-D6 Block because it has disallowed development costs of $2.376 billion, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Power stocks which rallied in the recent past are trading lower in today’s trade on account of profit taking. NTPC and Tata Power are down between 0.5-1.6%.
Metal stocks are losing sheen in today’s trade. Coal India, Hindalco and Tata Steel have lost between 1-1.6%.
HDFC, M&M, Axis Bank, GAIL and Tata Motors are some of the prominent names in red among others and are down between 1-1.2%.
Asian Markets:
Asian stocks rose on Thursday amid fresh signs of resilience in the US economy, while the euro wallowed near two-year lows before a much-anticipated European Central Bank meeting that could open the door to more stimulus.
Tokyo's Nikkei climbed 1%, touching a new seven-year high, with sentiment buoyed by media projections suggesting a strong win for Japanese premier Shinzo Abe's coalition at the Dec 14 election. A victory for Abe could lead to a new mandate for his "Abenomics" policies to revive the economy.Following the tandem, Hang Seng, Straits Times and Shanghai Composite gained between 0.3-5%.
