Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex rebounded by over 93 points in early trade on Wednesday on gains in bluechips such as Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), L&T and ITC amid a rising trend in Asia. According to traders, buying activity picked up, mirroring positive cues from the rest of Asia after another record on the Wall Street on Tuesday.
Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.18%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.24% in early trade. China’s Shanghai Composite was also up by 0.22%. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.18% higher on Tuesday. The US Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting will conclude later on Wednesday. The US central bank is expected to announce details of its plan to start shrinking the $4.5 trillion balance sheet later on Wednesday. Here are the latest updates from the markets:
■ 10.17am: BSE Sensex rose by 19 points, or 0.06%, to 32,422, while the Nifty 50 edged up 4 points, or 0.4%, to 10,152.
■ 9.55am: Tyre stocks trading higher. JK Tyre surged 9%, Ceat Ltd 2%, Apollo Tyres Ltd 3%, MRF 2% and Balkrishna Industries 2%.
■ 9.53am: Tata Steel Ltd rose 1.4% to Rs686 after the company said it and Thyssenkrupp is in a pact for a 50:50 joint venture.
■ 9.50am: Power companies trading higher. Reliance Power Ltd rose 3%, Adani Power Ltd 2%, Torrent Power 1.7% and Tata Power Co. Ltd 1.1%.
■ 9.25am: BSE Sensex opened higher by 60 points, or 0.18%, to 32,462, while the Nifty 50 edged up 10 points, or 0.10%, to 10,157.
■ 9.20am: Bharti Airtel Ltd fell 4.7%, while Idea Cellular Ltd declined 7.2%, Reliance Communications Ltd slumped 3%, while Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) gained 3.4%. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday more than halved the so-called interconnect usage charge (IUC) to six paise with effect from 1 October and abolished it all together for all local calls starting 1 January 2020, dealing a big blow to older telecom firms, such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, and a potential boost to newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
■ 9.17am: SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd’s Rs8,400 crore initial public offering (IPO) set to hit the market on Wednesday, with a price band of Rs685-700 per share. SBI Life Insurance’s IPO will the biggest to hit the market since Coal India Ltd’s issue in October 2010. It is also the fourth-largest IPO by issue size.
■ 9.15am: The rupee was trading at 64.26 a dollar, up 0.12% from its Tuesday’s close of 64.33. The rupee opened at 64.26 a dollar.
■ 9.13am: The 10-year bond yield was at 6.590% compared to its previous close of 6.592%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
■ 9.10am: Asian currencies were trading higher. South Korean won was up 0.32%, China renminbi 0.23%, China offshore 0.22%, Philippines peso 0.18%, Indonesian rupiah 0.11%, Singapore dollar 0.1%, Taiwan dollar 0.09% and Japanese yen 0.06%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 91.732, down 0.07% from its previous close of 91.793.