Indian bourses continued their trade in positive terrain in early afternoon session, led by gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and GAIL India among others. Sentiments remained upbeat with the report that India’s Services sector activity gathered pace in October, driven by sharper increase in new business orders amid strong demand and improved market conditions. The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which tracks services sector companies on a monthly basis, stood at 54.5 in October as against 52.0 in September. Some support also came with a survey of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), which has said that India Inc believes the economy is faring better and is optimistic about demand rising. Expectations regarding the performance of the economy in the next six months went up, with about 75% positive on growth, up from 66%. Further, appreciation in Indian rupee too was supporting the upbeat mood of the markets.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, spooked by concerns over the outcome of next week’s U.S. presidential election. Back home, traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, FMCG, Realty, Auto and Capital Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, PSU, IT, TECK and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Hero MotoCorp was up by around two percent after unveiling their October sales figures.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27562.02, up by 34.80 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 27446.31 and 27600.74. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.01%, FMCG up by 0.64%, Realty up by 0.60%, Auto up by 0.49% and Capital Goods up by 0.39%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.58%, PSU down by 0.47%, IT down by 0.42%, TECK down by 0.08% and Power down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.80%, ITC up by 1.29%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.76%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.56% and GAIL India up by 0.55%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.36%, Wipro down by 1.39%, Asian Paints down by 1.25%, Lupin down by 1.07% and Adani Ports &Special down by 1.03% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, in order to protect domestic aluminium sector, the Indian government is mulling to provide duty protection for the aluminium sector which is facing dumping of cheap aluminium products from countries like China for over a year now. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) in its recent notification said that it has found prima facie evidence of dumping of aluminium from China.
As per the notification, “the authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry. To determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which if levied would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry”. The period of investigation is from April 2014 to March 2015.
India's annual aluminium consumption currently stood at 3 million tonnes and production capacity is 4 million tonne. Nearly half the consumption is met by imports, mainly from China. Aluminium imports had rose 159 per cent in 2015 as compared to 2011 levels.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8530.15, up by 16.15 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 8489.60 and 8537.65. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.34%, Bharti Infratel up by 4.40%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.74%, Idea Cellular up by 1.62% and BHEL up by 1.46%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.33%, Wipro down by 1.39%, Asian Paints down by 1.28%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.12% and Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.06% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 307.72 points or 1.76% to 17,134.68, Taiwan Weighted decreased 71.77 points or 0.79% to 9,067.27, Hang Seng decreased 41.98 points or 0.18% to 22,768.52, Jakarta Composite decreased 26.12 points or 0.48% to 5,379.34 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.53 points or 0.27% to 1,655.07.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 4.86 points or 0.25% to 1,983.80 and Shanghai Composite increased 27.19 points or 0.88% to 3,129.92.
