Meanwhile, ahead of a long holiday, investors are also looking at the next Samvat starting on Diwali. Top private sector banking names, a few top PSU banks and the leading NBFCs are well placed to deliver market-beating returns, said an analyst.
“The reality and metal stories appear to be multi-year upcycle stories, and therefore, might remain resilient during Samvat 2078. Construction-related stocks are likely to do well gaining from the low-interest tailwind,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
How are bluechips doing
After opening in the green, benchmark indices maintained their lead. At 9.32 am, BSE flagship Sensex was up 239 points or 0.40 per cent at 60,268. NSE benchmark Nifty advanced 79 points or 0.44 per cent to 17,968.
“On the technical front, though Indian markets declined marginally yesterday, overall breadth seems positive and outperformance was witnessed in the majority of the indices. We believe the positive trend in the market is intact and investors can witness further upside. Immediate support and resistance in the markets are 17,800 and 18,200, respectively,” said Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS, Hem Securities.
In the 50-share pack Nifty, Tech Mahindra was the biggest gainer, up 2.02 per cent. SBI Life Insurance, L&T, Adani Ports, NTPC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Tata Steel and M&M were among other gainers.
Divi’s Labs was the top loser in the pack, down 1.43 per cent. Sun Pharma, Titan, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, HUL, Tata Motors and Britannia Industries were among those that traded in the red.
Factors driving markets
US Fed meeting: The Federal Reserve is expected to announce the tapering of its $120 billion-a-month asset purchase programme in its policy statement at 1800 GMT.
Dollar, bond yields steady: Moves in currency markets were muted on Thursday. The dollar kept within sight of its recent highs against the yen and euro. US benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were steady at 1.5540 per cent, a little off last month’s recent top of 1.7 per cent. This also adds to uncertainty in the equity markets.
Broader markets
Broader market indices were trading higher, in line with their headline peers, in morning trade. Nifty Smallcap was up 0.18 per cent while Nifty Midcap advanced 0.57 per cent. Broadest index on NSE, Nifty 500 was up 0.44 per cent.
Mazdock Shipbuilders, Sequent Scientific, Cochin Shipyard, Trent, Manappuram Finance and REC were gainers from the space while Balkrishna Industries, Oil India, Bharat Forge, Laxmi Chemicals, IDBI and Century Ply witnessed selling pressure.
Global markets
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.33 per cent in early trading on Thursday. Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.
The Australian benchmark share index was the biggest gainer, rising 1.3 per cent. But those gains were outweighed by falls in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, down 1 per cent, and South Korea’s KOSPI, down 1.2 per cent.
