 "Sensex opens in green; Tata Steel surges, Financial Tech down 20%")
The Indian markets opened in the green todayled by a strong rally in metal stocks, following a spectacular set of results from Tata Steel.
The BSE Sensexopened up 50 points at 19,280; Nifty was up 19 points at 5,718.
The rupee and bonds weakened on Wednesday as the government’s increases in gold and silver import duties announced a day earlier were not seen as enough to prevent the domestic currency from sliding towards record lows.
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Investors are also on hold for wholesale price inflation data due later in the day, which is expected to pick up slightly to an annual 5 percent in July, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
The partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.4/42 per dollar at 0912 India time versus its close of 61.19/20 on Tuesday and near a record low of 61.80 hit earlier this month.
The benchmark 10-year bond yield was trading up 6 basis points at 8.46 percent.
Realty stocks which had a good day on Tuesday following good results by DLF were trading higher once again today.
Beaten down banking names saw some respite for a second day in a row with notable gainers from the space being private sector names like ICICI Bank and State Bank of India. However, other stocks like Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank lost ground.
BSE metals index sits at the top of the sectoral pack with gains of more than 2 percent.
Globally, the dollar held a stronger tone into Asian trade onWednesday after U.S. retail sales reinforced expectations theU.S. Federal Reserve could soon start paring its monetarystimulus, with the weaker yen helping Japanese stocks rise toone-week highs.
Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading flat with a slight negative bias. The Jakarta Composite and the Seoul Composite were trading with gains while the Taiwan Weighted and the Japanese Nikkei lost ground.
Stocks in news:
Financial Technologies slides more than 22 percent to Rs 131 - top loser in the BSE IT index. This comes just after the newsthat brokerswill take legal action against crisis-hit National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) if a firm commitment is not given on fulfilling payment obligations, adequately supported by collaterals, by tomorrow.
Tata Steel is up 7.40 percent as it has surprises the street by posting better-than-expected numbers during June quarter as its Indian operations put up a good show and even performance of its Europe subsidiary was not that bad as anticipated by analysts.
Gitanjali Gems is up 5 percent. Jewellery stocks were trading higher despite a hike in import duty of gold. Titan, Shree Ganesh and TBZ were among the gainers from the space.