Markets end in the green ahead of F&O expiry

Broader market outperformed the headline indices with BSE Midcap and Smallcap finishing the day 1.22%, and 1.54% higher, respectively

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Extending gains for the second straight session, the benchmark equity indices settled the day higher ahead of the F&O expiry of November series due on Thursday.

Positive cues from the Asian markets which surged to one-week highs after the Wall Street saw a second consecutive record-breaking session overnight, contributed to gains.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 26,051, up 91 points, while the broader Nifty50 closed at 8,033, up 31 points.

Broader market outperformed the headline indices with BSE Midcap and Smallcap finishing the day 1.22%, and 1.54% higher, respectively.

"The rollovers ahead of the expiry were 41% by the afternoon trade, which are comparatively lower than what we saw in the October series. Rollovers to October series till Wednesday stood at 51%,” said Chandan Taparia, Derivatives Analyst - Equity Research , Anand Rathi.

Sectors such as telecom, real estate, auto, metals and pharma were witnessing higher rollovers, with stocks such as Motherson Sumi, Strides Arcolab, Mindtree, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Bata India, leading the rollover charts.

Finance and oil & gas sectors, on the other hand, saw lesser rollovers.

“Bank Nifty registered 37% rollovers so far, led by IDBI Bank with 55% rollovers. Bank of India and HDFC Bank recorded 48% rollovers each.

Sectors and stocks

Realty index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, rose for the second straight day to add over 3%, led by gains in Indiabulls Real Estate, NBCC and Unitech.

Metal index gained 2.32% to 10243.72 points, extending its previous day's 2.7% surge on BSE.

The gains came after LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME), on Tuesday closed 1% higher at 2,738, its highest level since June 2015. It gained 2.3% on Monday.

Engineering firm Larsen & Toubro rose 4.2% in intraday deals, after the company reported an 84% jump in its second-quarter net profit at 14.35 billion rupees ($209.69 million), beating analysts' average expectation of Rs 8.55 billion.

Lupin was the top gainer on the Sensex and surged 4% after the company announced that it received tentative approval for generic Epzicom tablets.

Among decliners, Wockhardt hit a fresh 52-week low of Rs 659, down 4.5% in intraday trade after the company’s UK arm, CP Pharmaceuticals, received a warning letter from the US drug regulator.

Meanwhile, the rupee fell to as low as 68.52 per dollar, the weakest since late February, tracking a decline in emerging-market currencies.

Global markets

European shares rose for a third straight day on Wednesday, with basic resources companies underpinning the market again following a rise in metals prices.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.2%, with Britain's commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index increasing 0.7%.

Asian stocks bounced to one-week highs as investors tried to share in the exuberance of Wall Street's record run, while lofty US bond yields favored the dollar at the expense of emerging market currencies.

With Japan on holiday, Australia's main index led the action in Asia with a rise of 1.35 percent to a one-month top helped by strength in bulk commodity prices.

China's blue-chip CSI300 index advanced 0.5% to a near 11-month peak as the yuan touched its lowest in six years.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan also added 0.6%, edging further away from four-month lows hit on Monday.