Markets Range-Bound, Hindustan Copper Jumps 10%

The Indian markets have continued to remain in range-bound trades this afternoon, with both the headline indices showing  gains of about 0.3%.

The winter session of Parliament also began today, with the Trinamool Congress tabling a no-confidence motion. As the party fell short of 50 votes, the motion was rejected by the Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar.

In the Asian markets, a positive sentiment was seen after the Chinese factory output grew for the first time in a year. HSBC’s flash reading of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 50.4 points, indicating an expansion in the manufacturing sector of China. Over this encouraging report, all the Asian indices barring Shanghai index are trading in gains. The Nikkei has surged by 1.56% and Hang Seng is up about 1%.

The European markets are yet to open, and may see a higher opening after the positive Chinese PMI data.

In the Indian markets, Bankex is up 0.63% and the PSU and Tech indices are also showing gains of about 0.5%. Most of the indices are registering volatile trades, with the CD index down by over 0.5%.

Among the Sensex stocks, SBI has gained 2.2% over the news of more capital infusion. The shares of Wipro and Infosys have gained about 1.5% each. Capital Goods major L&T is also up by 1% at this hour. Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto have also moved higher. Private sector lender HDFC Bank is up by 0.95%. Tata Motors, on the other hand, has been driven down over 1% on profit booking. BHEL is also lower by 0.8%. Cipla, Sun Pharma and Dr. Reddy’s Labs are showing a declining trend over the uncertainty on the new pharma pricing policy.

The government is targetting to disinvest 4% stake in Hindustan Copper on Friday, Nov 23. The shares of the company jumped over 10% on news of the stake sale.

Shree Cement jumped over 5% on fresh buying seen due to its robust outlook. Glenmark Pharma and IPCA have also surged over 5% at this time.

Stocks of Max India were down 4.7% as it turned ex-dividend today.

The advance-decline ratio on the BSE is mixed, with equal advances and declines.

Ahead today, we expect the market to remain volatile.