Markets Open Trades In Narrow Range

The markets are trading marginally higher ahead of the Diwali holidays on Tuesday and Wednesday. Of course, there will be a Muhurat trading session on Diwali day (Tuesday) and the markets would be open for 45 min between 3.45 pm to 4.30 pm. Markets participants usually offer Muhurat trades on this day to welcome the new year (Samvat 2069).

Among the sectoral indices, Teck, FMCG, IT and Consumer Durables are trading higher by more than 0.50%, while Oil & Gas, Metals and Auto are down.

In the other Asian markets, Hang Seng and Shanghai are trading higher by 0.17% and 0.13% respectively while the Nikkei is 0.62% down. According to a Bloomberg report, the GDP for Japan in the Sept 2012 quarter shrank by an annualised 3.5%.

Back home, telecom major Bharti Airtel is the leading Index gainer, up by 1.89% at Rs 280.50 per share. IT stocks are also witnessing gains, with stocks like TCS, Infosys and Wipro higher in the range of 0.4%-1.3%. Others like HDFC, BHEL, ICICI Bank, HUL, etc. are also trading positive.

On the flip side, Tata Steel is the worst performer on the Index, trading lower by 1.47% at Rs 384.8 per share. Auto stocks like Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto are down by almost 0.90%. Heavyweight counters like ITC, ONGC and SBI have also dropped to the red.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is strong this morning. On the BSE, 1162 shares have advanced, 921 shares have declined and 86 remain unchanged.

We expect the markets to trade in a very narrow range for the day.