Markets Extend Morning Gains

The Indian markets, which were trading in a narrow range in their early trades, have shown some kind of strength and are moving upwards. The Sensex and Nifty are currently trading higher by 0.21% and 0.22% respectively. Among the sectoral indices, Oil & Gas is the leading index, up by more than 1%. Others like Capital Goods, Healthcare and FMCG are also trading in the positive territory. On the other hand, the Auto, Consumer Durables and IT indices are trading lower.

Other Asian markets are trading in a mixed bag, with Hang Seng marginally higher by 0.05%, while Nikkei is down 0.45%. The Japanese market is trading lower after Bloomberg reports which hinted that there are concerns of a global slowdown weighing on earnings at companies from Nippon Paper Group Inc. to retailer Uny Co. The Shanghai market is closed for the day on account of a public holiday.

The European indices have opened their first trades in the red, with indices like FTSE, CAC and DAX trading lower in the range of 0.3%-0.6% respectively. This is after media reports which hinted that there is a lot of pressure on central bank policy makers. A meeting of policy makers is expected to be scheduled later this week, and would probably consider fresh easing steps.

Back home, pharma major Dr Reddy’s Labs is the leading index gainer, trading higher by 3.04% at Rs 1695.35 per share. Oil & Gas major RIL is also up by 1.8% at Rs 849.15, helping the markets to move higher. Other stocks like HUL, Coal India, Sun Pharma and TCS are trading higher by over 1% each. NTPC, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, etc. are marginally in the green zone.

On the other hand, Jindal Steel is the leading index loser, plunging 4.14% to Rs 417.7 per share. Two-wheeler majors Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto are also lower by 1.38% and 1.31% respectively after dismal September 2012 sales numbers. Other biggies like Infosys and ITC are also down by 1.55% and 1.19% respectively. HDFC Bank, SBI, Cipla, Tata Power are among those trading marginally in the red zone.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is strong as of now. On the BSE, 1643 shares advanced, 970 shares have declined and 140 shares are unchanged.