Asian stock markets are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.6% while the Hang Seng is up 1%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 2%. US stocks ended higher on Wednesday, but the day's uneven path showed investors' sensitivity to any signs of turmoil in the Middle East, with stocks rising on comments by President Donald Trump and paring gains on reports of blasts in Baghdad.
Back home, India share markets opened on a strong note. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 464 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 134 points. Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index opened the day up by 1%.
All sectoral indices have opened the day in green with metal stocks, oil & gas stocks and telecom stocks witnessing maximum buying interest.
The rupee is currently trading at 71.38 against the US$.
The Indian rupee retrieved early losses to settle 12 paise higher at 71.70 against the US dollar, but overall forex market sentiments remained subdued amid further escalation in US-Iran tensions.
At the foreign bank exchange, the domestic unit opened significantly lower at 72.05 per dollar as against the previous day's close of 71.82.
During the day, it traded in the range of 72.07 and 71.69 to the US currency.
Speaking of currencies, Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, tells you the main reasons why not to trade commodities and currencies the same way you would trade equities. Here's an excerpt of what he wrote...
To know more, you can read Vijay's entire article here: Is Trading in Equities, Commodities, and Currencies the Same?
Moving on to the news from the automobiles sector. Maruti Suzuki announced that its total production rose 7.9% to 1.2 lakh units in December 2019 from 1.1 lakh units in December 2018.
Sequentially, production declined 18.3% in December 2019 from 1.4 lakh units in November 2019.
The company witnessed reduced output for nine straight months from February to October 2019 due to lower demand before raising output in November 2019.
The car major reported 11.5% decline in total auto sales to 1.3 lakh units in December 2019 compared with 1.5 lakh units in November 2018. Total sales, however, rose 3.9% last month compared with 1.3 lakh units in December 2018.
The firm hiked prices across various models from January 2020. The car major said that the cost of vehicles has been impacted adversely due to increase in various input costs. This price increase shall vary for different models.
Notably, auto sector is the biggest victim of economic slowdown. However, instead of turning away from the sector investors should start looking out for good investing opportunities now.
The BSE Auto index has entered the greed phase and will stay there for 32 months. There is a big money-making opportunity out there. Watch this video where Apurva Sheth explains it all to you.
Speaking of automobile sector, India's automobile industry is bracing itself for a unique challenge in the first quarter of 2020 when the transition of BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms has to be made at the stroke of midnight on 31 March 2020.
No BS-IV vehicle could be sold from 1 April 2020, which means automakers would have to reduce their inventory on BS-IV models to zero by then.
The exercise is likely to see companies show extra caution in dispatching cars to dealers in the next few months, which may cause a continuation of the decline in wholesale numbers.
However, despite the slowdown in the auto sector, the sales volume of electric vehicles (EVs) are growing at a robust pace.
Electric vehicles are very much on their way to invading Indian roads. The threat of disruption in this era is something you cannot ignore.
The recently announced government incentives will give a further boost to EV sales.
The coming one year will be a real test for India's auto companies.
It will also tell us if this slowdown is temporary or if there has been a structural change in the sector.
In our view, companies in the sector adapting their business models to the rapidly changing environment will survive and thrive.
To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.
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