Markets opened on a positive note
mirroring strong rally on the Wall Street on Friday and firm gains in Japanese
equity markets after Bank of Japan (BOJ) slashed a benchmark interest rate
below zero on Friday, a move to kick start the economy.
Meanwhile, participants are
eyeing the RBI monetary policy review tomorrow and the last batch of third
quarter earnings will be in focus during the current week.
At 9:40 am, the S&P BSE Sensex
gained 26 points to trade at 24,896 and the Nifty50 climbed 10 points to quote
at 7,573. In
the broader market, BSE Midcap and Small cap indices are outperforming the large
caps and have gained between 0.5%-0.8percent.
"Technically, Nifty is well
placed above 20- DMA i.e. above 7535 levels on closing indicates a positive
sign. Also, the fact that the Nifty is forming a good support at 7370 odd
levels and heading towards 50- DMA i.e. 7680 levels. Nifty is likely to
continue its a bounce back rally towards 7620-7680 as long as Nifty hold 7370
levels on closing basis. For Intraday, Nifty has an immediate support at
7540/7510 whereas resistance is placed at 7610/7640," Nirmal Bang Research
said in a technical note.
GLOBAL
MARKETS
Asian stocks except China and
Hong Kong are trading higher with Japanese shares gaining the most after the
Bank of Japan's negative interest rate policy stance. The benchmark Nikkei
gained 1.8% while Straits Times climbed 0.3%. However, Shanghai Composite lost
0.5% after an official measure of activity in the factory sector dropped to its
lowest since mid-2012. Also, Hang Seng eased 0.4%.
US stocks rallied on Friday after
the surprise announcement by the Bank of Japan and strong gains in technology
shares led by Microsoft. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 2.4% at
16,460 while the broader S&P 500 gained 2.4% to 1,939 and tech-laden Nasdaq
ended up 2.4% at 4,614.
KEY
STOCKS
The auto stocks are trading mixed
ahead of the auto sales numbers for the month of January due to released starting
today. Tata Motors is up 0.5%, while Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto
down between 0.1%-2.5percent.
The rate sensitive stocks
including auto, financials and realty stocks are showing a mixed trend ahead of
the RBI policy review tomorrow. In the financial pocket, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis
Bank and HDFC have shed between 0.1%-2.5percent, while HDFC Bank is up 0.6%.
The realty stocks are trading largely in green with DB Realty, HDIL, Mahindra
Life, DLF, IndiaBulls real estate, Prestige Estates up between 1%-2%.
L&T reported a 19% increase
in consolidated net profit for the third quarter on the account of improved
execution of projects in its overseas. The stock has jumped 3.5% and has
emerged as the top gainer in the Sensex pack.
Marico is up 1.7% after the
company posted 24% increase in net profit to Rs198 crore during the third
quarter ended December even as sales grew 7% at Rs 1556 crore.
Grasim Industries jumped 4% after
it reported a net profit of Rs 650 crore for the December quarter, up 9%
from Rs 334 crore in the year-ago period owing to better operational
performance.
JSW Steel lost 1% on reporting a
consolidated net loss of Rs 923 crore for the December quarter, hit by
impairment charges of Rs 2,121 crore.
V-Guard Industries soared 7% on
reporting an over two-fold jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 21.48 crore
for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015.
