Opening Bell: Sensex flat; HDFC, Tata Power, HUL up

The Indian market opens on an optimistic note in today’s trade. BSE Sensex was marching towards 19000 mark. Marginal buying was seen in pharma, oil&gas and power stocks. Positive manufacturing data and better-than-expected auto sales data for September may act as trigger for the market to extend this rally.

The Sensex was up 50.48 points or 0.27% at 18874.39, and the Nifty was up 18.10 points or 0.32% at 5736.90. About 717 shares advanced, 201 shares declined, and 2535 shares remain unchanged.

Top gainers in the Nifty were Ambuja Cements, HCL Tech, Cipla, Wipro and HDFC. Jindal Steel, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, ITC and Bank of Baroda were top losers.

Rupee @ fresh 5-month high

The Indian rupee rose for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday to hit a new five-month high on hopes of an improving economy and fiscal and economic reforms from the government. This may continue to spur inflows from foreign funds while exporters sold dollars.

ICICIdirect expects the US dollar to attract selling pressure on rallies against the INR and recommends to utilise the highs in the USDINR October contract to sell.

Stocks in News

The maximum buyback price for Rain Commodities is Rs 46 per share, reports CNBC-TV18.

Ashok Leyland's September total sales were up 21% at 10,623 units, YoY.

United Spirits - Diageo deal is likely to be announced today, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting reports.

Global Cues

Asian markets were trading mixed. The US markets finished mixed in volatile trading, however uncertainty over the timing of Spain's bailout request and ongoing fears over the slowing global economy put a lid on gains. The CBOE volatility index slipped below 16.

Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.24% or 32.75 points at 13482.36. Nasdaq Composite was up 0.21% or 6.51 points at 3120.04. Standard & Poor's 500 was up 0.09% or 1.26 points at 1445.75.

F&O Cues

FIIs were net buyers in the cash and index futures segment to the tune of Rs 207 crore and Rs 93 crore, respectively. India VIX went up from 16.16 to 16.34 (up 1.11%)

In the options space, on the Call  side, 5800, 5900 and 6000 Call added 0.7 million shares each. On the Put side, the Nifty 5600 and 5700 Put added 0.65 million shares and 0.3 million shares, respectively.

Nifty Strategy: ICICIdirect

The Nifty is likely to open positive on the back of positive global markets on Tuesday. It is likely to trade in the range of 5720-5810. The trading strategy would be to create long positions if  the Nifty takes support at around 5733 levels for targets of 5770 and 5795. On the other hand, one can also create short positions if it resists at around 5810 levels. The Bank Nifty is likely to trade in the range of 10450-11750.