Markets make gap up opening; Nifty reclaims 7,850 mark

With a gap-up opening Indian equity markets have recovered all their previous session losses and are now trading in fine fettle with the gains of around one percent, tracking positive global cues. Sustained buying in the key heavyweights supported BSE’s -- Sensex -- and NSE’s -- Nifty -- to regain their crucial 25,800 and 7,850 mark respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices are also trading in line with larger counterparts posting gains in the range of 0.60-0.85%. The sentiment also got a boost with the report that current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to 1.6 percent of GDP at $ 8.2 billion in the second quarter ended September, mainly due to lower trade deficit. Further some support also came in on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 168.73 crore yesterday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Besides, extending its gains for the seventh day in a row, the rupee strengthened by 9 paise to 66.24 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange on continued selling of the American currency by exporters and banks, that supported the markets.

In the scrip specific development, Tata Steel was trading higher on the BSE after the company announced that Tata Steel UK signed a Letter of Intent with Greybull Capital to sell its long products Europe business.

On the global front, the US stocks ended higher, buoyed by energy shares as sliding oil prices stabilized and by fairly healthy data on US economic growth. Asian markets were trading mostly in green, with buying supported by another Wall Street rally as a positive reading on US growth and consumer spending renewed confidence in the world's top economy.

Back home, all the sectoral indices were trading in green led by Metal, Oil & Gas, Realty, Power and IT. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1408: 273 while 85 scrips remained unchanged

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25804.70, up by 214.05 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 25689.70 and 25827.22. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.61%, while Small cap index gained 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.41%, Oil & Gas up by 1.14%, Realty up by 0.94%, Power up by 0.90% and IT up by 0.74%, while there were no losers. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.58%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.86%, Tata Steel up by 2.78%, Reliance Industries up by 1.64% and BHEL up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a new growth projections presented by researchers at the Centre for International Development (CID) at Harvard University has said that India, with a projected annual growth rate of 7 percent, has the potential to be the world's fastest growing economy over the coming decade, surging ahead of its South Asian economic rival China that will continue to see a slowdown.

CID, which is Harvard's leading research hub focusing on resolving the dilemmas of public policy associated with generating stable, shared, and sustainable prosperity in developing countries, said that India has the potential to be the fastest growing economy over the coming decade... India tops the global list for predicted annual growth rate for the coming decade, at 7.0 per cent. This far outpaces projections for its northern neighbour and economic rival, China, which the researchers expect to face a continued slowdown to 4.3% growth annually to 2024

The CID data predicted that growth in emerging markets will continue to outpace that of advanced economies, though the gap is closing. CID is also bullish on East Africa, with Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya ranking in the top 10, with all predicted to grow at least 5.5 per cent annually. It added that South Asia and East Africa have the greatest potential for 'rapid growth' as oil economies and other commodity-driven economies face the slowest growth outlook. South Asia and East Africa possess the greatest potential for fast growth. The growth forecast also looks favourably on Southeast Asia, where the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam look to drive growth well above global averages.

The CID researchers used their newly updated measure of economic complexity, which captures the diversity and sophistication of productive capabilities embedded in a country's exports, to generate the growth projections.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7851.20, up by 65.10 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 7826.10 and 7853.35. There were 48 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.61%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.99%, Tata Steel up by 2.76%, Vedanta up by 2.44% and Hindalco up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.45% was the only loser.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Shanghai Composite increased 6.02 points or 0.16% to 3,657.79, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.32 points or 0.63% to 1,653.58, KOSPI Index increased 10.7 points or 0.54% to 2,003.26, Taiwan Weighted increased 42.36 points or 0.51% to 8,335.10 and Hang Seng increased 236.49 points or 1.08% to 22,066.5.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 29.32 points or 0.16% to 18,886.70 and Jakarta Composite decreased 8.86 points or 0.2% to 4,508.71.