Hindu file photo

Mumbai, India (BBN) – The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by nearly 200 points ahead of release of key macroeconomic data and start of March quarter earnings season due later this week despite a weak trend in Asia.
At 1.30pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 193.88 points or 0.66 per cent at 29,769.22 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 48.2 points or 0.52 per cent at 9,229.65, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Barring metal, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, PSU index gained the most by 1.45 per cent, followed by realty 1.35 per cent, FMCG 1.3 per cent and capital goods 1.29 per cent, while metal index was down 1.48 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were ITC (+2.67 per cent), Power Grid (+2.49 per cent), L&T (+1.45 per cent), Bharti Airtel (+1.4 per cent) and Infosys (+1.33 per cent), while the major losers were Adani Ports (-5 per cent), Tata Steel (-1.3 per cent), Cipla (-1.1 per cent), Bajaj Auto (-0.64 per cent) and Tata Motors (-0.64 per cent).
Earnings are shaping as critical for investors to ascertain whether the double-digit rise in the shares’ value can be sustained. The broader NSE index has risen about 12.7 per cent so far this year, touching a record high of 9,273.90 last week.
Meanwhile, analysts expect shares to trade in a narrow range. Infosys Ltd, the country’s second-largest software services company, is due to report results on Thursday, unofficially kicking off the reporting season for major companies.
“Market will remain in this range of 9,000-9,250 points on Nifty, watching out for earnings,” said Rakesh Tarway, head of research, Reliance Securities Ltd.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian stocks fell in choppy trade on Tuesday as the political tinderbox in West Asia and the Korean Peninsula added to uncertainty over the looming French vote, pushing edgy investors into safer assets such as the yen and Treasuries.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan swung between gains and losses and was last down 0.4 per cent.
US stocks ended a choppy session slightly higher on Monday as gains in energy shares offset losses in financials ahead of quarterly corporate earnings later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.92 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 20,658.02, the S&P 500 gained 1.62 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 2,357.16 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.11 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 5,880.93.
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