Markets Marginally Higher

Indian markets are trading in narrow territory with some positive bias. At present both the major Indices are trading higher 0.2 per cent with Sensex at 21763 levels and Nifty is currently trading around the 5630 mark. Among the sectoral Indices, Consumer Durbales is the leading index trading on higher side, up 4.19 per cent. Other Indices like Auto, Realty and Healthcare are also trading higher with more than a per cent gain. While on the flip side, Oil & Gas and FMCG were the only Indices trading lower down 0.67 and 0.88 per cent respectively.

Other Asian markets are also trading higher in the green zone, with Hang Seng and Nikkei up 0.56 and 0.21 per cent respectively. Chinese Index Shanghai has zoomed 1.77 per cent and is trading above 2100 mark. This is after Bloomberg reports stated that China’s manufacturing expanded for the first time in three months as output and new orders climbed, adding to signs of growth in the world’s second-biggest economy that is rebounding after a seven-quarter slowdown.

Back home, Auto stocks continued their rally, on the expectations if better sales volume growth for October 2012. Tata motors is the leading Index gainer trading higher 3.59 per cent to Rs 263.8 per share. Others like M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Hero motocorp are trading higher in the range of 1 to 1.5 per cent respectively. Other Index heavyweight like ICICI bank, L&T, SBI, HDFC, TCS etc are trading higher in the positive territory.

On the flip side, FMCG majors HUL and ITC are amongst the leading Index loser trading lower 1.89 per cent and 1.24 per cent respectively. This happened after market participants wanted to take some profits off the table. RIL is also trading lower 0.43 per cent to Rs 801.8 per share, after Kejriwal accusations have some negative imapct on the company. Other stocks like HDFC bank, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, NTPC etc are the stocks which are trading marginally in the red zone.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is positive. On the BSE, 1478 shares advanced while 1023 shares have declined, 103 shares are unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain in narrow range for the latter part of the day.