Indian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, marking their highest level in nearly 1-1/2 months, led by metal, realty, auto and power stocks amid firm global cues.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 102.97 points or 0.38 per cent at 27,035.85 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended up 24.5 points or 0.3 per cent at 8,177.40. Both indexes earlier hit their highest since August 21.

Oil explorers rose tracking a rebound in crude oil prices, while auto stocks gained on hopes the upcoming festive season would boost sales.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index was the star-performer and was up 2.76 per cent, followed by realty 1.9 per cent, auto 1.37 per cent and power 1.3 per cent. On the other hand, IT index fell the most by 1.63 per cent and TECk 1.38 per cent,

Top five Sensex gainers were Hindalco (+9.64%), VEDL (+5.83%), Tata Steel (+4.25%), ONGC (+3.99%) and Bajaj Auto (+3.14%), while the major losers wereAxis Bank (-1.92%), Infosys (-1.88%), Wipro (-1.88%), Bharti Airtel (-1.66%) and TCS (-1.51%).

Gains also tracked higher Asian stocks which hit a seven-week high on Wednesday as oil prices showed some signs of life, supporting battered resource shares and emerging economy currencies

A tactical rally in emerging markets on some stability in China PMI and weak US jobs data pushing Fed rate hike expectations to March 2016 are also seen helping sentiment.

The upcoming earnings reporting season with Infosys due to post July-September results on October 12, and macro data including inflation, and industrial output next week, would be key domestic data points to watch in the near term.

"Margin expansion would continue to benefit mid-caps in September quarter results, while macro data points would continue to showcase marginal improvements," said G Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a Mumbai-based research and fund advisory firm.

A report by SMC Global said: "Asian stocks climbed,building on their biggest five-day advance in almost four years, as Samsung Electronics Co. jumped after quarterly profit topped estimates and investors awaited a Bank of Japan decision on monetary policy. US stocks finish largely in the red, with the S&P 500 breaking a five-session winning streak and biotech stocks once again getting sold off.Global growth remains 'moderate and uneven' amid the modest pick-up in advanced economies and the slowdown in emerging markets, and the more pronounced downside risks call for policy action to boost economic expansion, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, as it cut its world growth forecasts for this year and next. In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), the Washington-based lender lowered the global growth forecast for this year to 3.1 per cent from 3.3 per cent. The outlook for next year was slashed to 3.6 per cent from 3.8 per cent. In 2014, the world economy grew 3.4 per cent."

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