Markets continue trading higher

Indian markets are trading in a very narrow range, with a positive bias. Both the bourses are trading higher by half a per cent. Among the sectors, the Metal and Bankex Indices are trading very strongly, both up more than 1%, while the Oil & Gas and Realty Indices are trading with a negative bias in the red zone.

Asian Markets continued to trade in a mixed bag. The Chinese markets are trading down more than 1%, while the Nikkei continued to hold its morning gains. The Hang Seng recovered from its day’s low, and is trading marginally in the green zone.

European markets opened in the green following expectations that the U.S. economy will add workers at a faster pace than last month.

Back home, banking stocks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI continued their morning gains, and are up more than 1% each. In the Metals space, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Jindal Steel continued a good show of strength, and are in the green zone. Sterlite Industries recovered from its morning losses, and is trading at its high point for the day, up 2.51% to Rs 108.10. Other stock like ITC, BHEL, Cipla and HDFC are trading marginally in the green.

On the other hand, the losers list included Oil & Gas heavyweights, ONGC and RIL, both of which continued their morning losses. Others losers included DLF, L&T and Tata Power, which traded marginally in the red.

Lupin gave up some of its morning gains, and is currently up 0.42% at Rs 468.05, after the news came in that the company has received approval from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for generic Solodyn tablets. 

Western India Shipyard is up 5.83% at Rs 7.26 after the company said that it has won 2 orders worth Rs 13.60 cr for the repair of vessels from DCI and Reliance Industries.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is very strong. On the BSE, 1473 shares rose and 1041 shares fell. 140 shares remained unchanged.

In conclusion, we expect the markets to remain volatile for the rest of the day, and advise readers to play cautiously.