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Indian Markets Extended Gains, Asian Stocks Mostly Higher

MAHARASHTRA, India – Indian stocks extended previous gains as the trading session progressed following the break-in celebration of the New Year’s Day.

During the late trading session, the Indian stock market continues with the uptrend, led by the broadest gains for the day for the Sensex index as it marked an increase of more than 300 points to settle at 41,611. The Nifty index also extended gains, adding around 0.8% for the day towards 12,279, only 15 points below its previous record high.

Metal stocks were the top gainer during the session, marking a 2.6% increase for the NSE metal index, boosted by the increase in shares of Hind Copper’s 20% gains. Other metal stocks helped with the surge as well, including SAIL, MOIL, and Nalco, which increased by 6% to 9%.

RIL also tracked a 2% gain for the session along with the top gainers in the Sensex index, which includes L&T, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, and HDFC.

In the broader markets, the BSE smallcap, and midcap also extended their recent outperformance, with both indices gaining more than 1% for the day.

The factory output of India also increased in December, recording its fastest growth rate wince seven months ago, following the increase in new orders, which led to the ramp-up in the production. However, business optimism was down to its near three-year low, as market players start to worry about a challenging market condition.

The GST collection for December, which published on Wednesday, suggests a good, if not great, value according to the HDFC Securities.

According to Motilal Oswal Financial Services Private’s head of retail research, Siddharta Khemka, the Indian markets focus on the quarterly results for December as well as any significant headlines from the government ahead of the Union Budget.

Elsewhere, optimistic trading was the sentiment for most Asian markets due to increasing trade optimism and China’s efforts to boost economic growth. Massive advances in the market come as market players stay upbeat regarding the outlook of the trade agreement between the US and China. At the same time, the uncertainty over Brexit essentially lost.

Meanwhile, worries resurfaced after the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un warned that intercontinental ballistic and nuclear missile test moratoriums had ended, with the country’s talk with Washington going nowhere.
On Thursday, the People’s Bank of China also stated that it had approved lower cash amounts that lenders have to keep in reserve, which expected to free up over $100 billion for small business loans.

Indian Markets Extended Gains, Asian Stocks Mostly Higher