Nifty gains for 6th straight day; metals shine, Axis rises 3%

After a consolidation, the NSE Nifty ended higher for the sixth consecutive session on Wednesday, supported by banking & financials and metals stocks. Weakness in European peers limited the upside.

Equity benchmarks started off day on a strong note with the Sensex rising more than 100 points but immediately wiped out those early gains to consolidate. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 27.82 points to 25844.18 and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 0.05 points to 7914.75.

Experts say they expect the consolidation to continue for some more time but 8000 is likely on Nifty in near term.

In the current rally, it is best for investors book profits, Pramod Gubbi of Ambit Singapore said.

According to him, the uptrend seen in metals and commodities is largely because of the short positions that are being covered. Otherwise, there isn’t anything happening in the sector.

Metals topped buying list with the Nifty Metal index rising 4 percent. Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and Vedanta surged 5-9 percent.

HDFC gained 1 percent after the board of directors approved selling up to 10 percent stake in life insurance arm HDFC Life through public offer. Keki Mistry, vice chairman said the IPO would require approvals from IRDA & SEBI, adding November & December can be an ideal time for IPO.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose half a percent after it said Zembrace SymTouch injection commercially was available in the US. Wipro climbed 2 percent ahead of its fourth quarter earnings.

TCS declined 2.8 percent after the IT major's operating profit margin missed analysts' expectations, though profit was ahead of estimates. Citi is not very impressed with TCS' performance and has a sell rating with a target price of Rs 2340 per share. It warns that it may be tough for TCS to keep margins in the target band (26-28 percent) unless rupee aids.

Among others, Axis Bank, L&T, NTPC, ONGC, GAIL and Coal India gained 1-3 percent while Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki and M&M fell 1-2 percent.

In broader space, GMR Infrastructure rallied 5 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that Delhi International Airport will monetise part of its land bank near Delhi airport and plans to sell around 22-25 acres of land near airport.

DCB Bank surged 10.6 percent. Kotak has upgraded DCB Bank to add from sell with unchanged target price of Rs 100 as it expects 15-16 percent return on equity in the long term.

CRISIL gained 8.5 percent after reporting 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated profit and 30 percent in operating profit.

The BSE Smallcap index outperformed benchmarks, up 0.6 percent. The market breadth was positive as about 1478 shares advanced against 1134 declining shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

On the global front, European were trading marginally lower on fall in oil prices. Brent crude declined 1.8 percent to USD 43.25 a barrel and US oil futures lost 2.2 percent to USD 40.17 a barrel. Major Asian markets also ended lower with the Shanghai falling 2.3 percent and Hang Seng down 1 percent.