Nifty reclaims 8650 amid volatility; Tata Steel up 3%, oil rises

Moneycontrol Bureau 1:37 pm Europe opens: Markets in Europe open slightly higher with investors focused on another batch of corporate earnings.

The Pan-European Stoxx 600 opened 0.42 percent higher.1:33 pm Market outlook: Markets are at a crucial point now and global headwinds might make the next 3-6 months challenging, feels Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO of Envision Capital.

Shah expects events like the US Presidential elections, rate decisions by US Federal Reserve and India’s Reserve Bank, GST implementation and UP elections to remain key triggers driving markets until early 2017.

Corporate earnings are still sluggish and not across-the-board, he says, adding, the expectations of earnings growth revival will now be pushed to FY18.1:20 pm Buzzing: Bharti Infratel shares gained 3 percent intraday after a media report indicated that two big foreign investors are eyeing major stake in the telecom tower infrastructure provider.

"Private equity heavyweight KKR and pension giant Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) are in talks with Sunil Mittal led Bharti Airtel to acquire a significant stake in its listed tower arm Bharti Infratel," a media report said quoting unnamed sources.

Last week Bharti Airtel said it has taken board approval to explore monetisation of a significant stake in Infratel subsidiary. Airtel currently owns 71.96 percent in the company while the rest is held by public shareholders.

The report further said Airtel is looking to divest up to 40 percent stake to a consortium of financial investors making them the single largest shareholder block.Also read - Maruti Suzuki Oct sales fall 0.3%, exports drop 24%; UV up 91%

1:00 pm Market Check

The market gained some strength in afternoon trade with the Nifty reclaiming 8650 level and the Sensex hitting 28000-mark amid consolidation.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 47.06 points at 27977.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 29.25 points at 8654.95. The broader markets also gained momentum with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.36 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The market breadth remained positive as about 1537 shares advanced against 1204 declining shares on the exchange.

Tata Steel, HDFC, BHEL, NTPC, Hindalco Industries and Eicher Motors were top gainers, up 2-5 percent while Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Cipla and Kotak Mahindra Bank lost 1-1.6 percent.

Oil prices edged higher from one-month lows in Asia after OPEC agreed on a long-term strategy that was seen as an indication the cartel was reaching a consensus on managing production. But the gains were limited as the market was weighed down by further indications of record output from the group, a sign the glut that has kept a lid on prices is not draining away as fast as the oil bulls would like.

Brent crude futures traded at USD 48.90 a barrel, up 0.6 percent over previous settlement while US crude futures rose to 46.88 a barrel.