Indian Benchmark indices today hit fresh respective highs after a flat opening. BSE Sensex opened 15.74 points higher at 30,765.77 points while NSE Nifty, the broader gauge, opened 2.0 points lower at 9,507.75 points. At 9:30 am, BSE Sensex was trading at 30,833.12 points, up 0.27% while NSE Nifty was trading at 9,520.05 points, up 0.11%.
Current gainers on the BSE include Tata Steel up 2.56% at Rs 497.70; Asian Paints up 2.31% to Rs 1,138.05; Lupin up 2.03% to Rs 1,161.00; while current laggards are Cipla down 1.26% at Rs 497.75; HDFC Bank down 0.66% at Rs 1,606.50 and SBI down 0.59% at Rs 288.30.
Videocon Industries tanked for the third consecutive session and hit the lower circuit again in opening minutes of trade. Investors continued to dump the stock after Dena Bank and Central Bank of India declared the debt given to the company as a non-performing asset.
Asian markets are trading mixed and at 9:50 am, Australia ASX All Ordinaries Index was down 0.64% or 37.30 points, Shanghai SE Composite Index was up 0.09% or 2.91 points, Hang Seng was up 0.03% or 6.50 points, Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.33% or 64.97 points while Taiwan TSEC 50 Index was down 0.27% or 26.88 points.
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Yesterday, US markets advanced for the sixth straight day. Both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite closed at fresh records. The S&P 500 index rose 11 points to finish at 2,415 while the NASDAQ Composite Index advanced 42 points to end at 6,205. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 71 points to close at 21,083.
Today the Indian Rupee opened six paise higher at 64.56 against the US Dollar after closing at 64.62 yesterday. The dollar index, which tracks the US dollar against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.1 percent following Wednesday’s Fed minutes which reduced expectations of the central bank hiking interest rates soon.
Meanwhile, OPEC and non-members led by Russia decided on Thursday to extend oil output cuts by nine months until March 2018 in their efforts to battle a global crude oil glut that has caused prices to halve and revenues to drop sharply in the past three years.
Oil prices dropped more than four percent as the market had been hoping oil producers could reach a last-minute deal to deepen the cuts or extend them further, until mid-2018, a Reuters report said. Oil-linked currencies dipped on news of expected OPEC output cut. The Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars fell substantially on Thursday, tracking a drop in oil prices as OPEC countries meeting in Vienna agreed to further cut production for nine months, the report said.
Crompton Greaves, DLF, HPCL, ITC, ONGC, Tech Mahindra will announce their fourth quarter results today.
