March 3: mid-session report

The Indian markets witnessed a strong rally for the third day in a row along with all the major Asian counterparts. After the Union Budget this was the third trading session where all the major benchmark indices were leading with gains of more than 1 per cent. Today’s rally was primarily led by the Metal Index which was up by 3.71 per cent. Asian peers too continued their rally for the third consecutive session.

Nifty was trading up by more than 69 points at 7437; and Sensex by 255 points at 24485. Both the leading indicators were trading up with gains of 0.98 and 1.05 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio showed the same trend as most of the stocks were trading in green. 1407 scrips were trading in the positive territory; 907 scrips were in red; however 110 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: BHEL is leading the gainers list as it was trading up by close to 6 per cent followed by Tata Steel, Vedanta, Hindalco and Tata Motors which were up 5.50; 5.44; 4.95; and 4.75 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: Zee Entertainment is leading the losers list down more than 2.60 per cent, followed by Yes Bank and Bank of Baroda which are down anywhere between 1.22 per cent to 1.17 per cent.

All the major sectors were trading in green except for Bank Nifty and CNX FMCG. BSE Metal Index was leading the way with gains of 3.90 per cent, followed by CNX Infra and CNX Auto which are trading up by 2.20 and 1.60 per cent respectively. BSE Small-Caps index also saw some heavy buying as it was trading up by 0.88 per cent. However, BSE Mid -Cap index was trading with minor gains of 0.15 per cent.

Asian shares scaled to two-month highs on Thursday due to overnight US jobs data, which were a beat on expectations. Chinese benchmark index CSI ended the day flat with positive bias. Japanese Nikkei also surged in trade and closed the day with gains in excess of 1.25 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was trading down by more than 0.70 per cent in late trade. However, Korean KOSPI was also up by 0.60 per cent.

In commodities, Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as sentiment spread that a 20-month-long market rout is coming to an end as production slows amid strong demand.

Buzzer: - INOX Wind was buzzing in trade as it was trading up by 18 per cent quoting Rs 282 attributed to 20 MW project win.

European stock markets are likely to open flat with minor gains. Britain's FTSE 100 is expected to open with the gains of 0.1 per cent, Germany's DAX is up by 0.60 per cent, and France's CAC is seen opening 0.41 per cent up.