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Tue, 17 Mar 09:30 am

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Asian stocks have hit multi-year highs owing to easing oil prices and pausing of the Dollar rally. Last night, U.S. markets gained over 1.25% while the European stocks bolstered gains to the tune of 2.25%. All the European stocks DAX, FTSE and CAC, closed with gains of over 1% last night. The upcoming Fed meeting on Wednesday is expected to become the next catalyst for global markets as clarity is expected over the raising of interest rates by the U.S. lawmakers.

Indian markets have too opened today's trading session with gains of 0.5%. The positive macro factors have boosted Indian equities too. BSE-Sensex gained over 150 points while NSE-Nifty gained over 50 points in today's opening trading session. All the sectoral indices are trading in the green. Banks and Auto stocks are leading the rally with maximum gains. S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap is trading with gains of over 0.5% each.

Commodity prices continue to show signs of weakness. Gold prices, per 10 grams, declined about 0.5% or Rs 115 and is trading at Rs 25, 700 levels while Silver prices have increased marginally by 0.05% or Rs 18 and is trading at Rs 35,500 levels. Crude oil prices fell nearly 4.5%, marking its declination by over 10% within last 4 trading sessions. Crude oil prices per barrel traded at Rs 2743. Sudden fall in international crude oil prices have prompted the crude oil price per barrel to fall in India. After making session highs in past couple of days, value of Indian Rupee declined by 0.12% or 0.08 to Rs 62.73 levels.

Banking sector gained more than 0.6% during today's trading session. As per the financial daily, in a move to contain bad loans, the country's largest bank, State Bank of India went online to auction its 300 assets. The value of these properties is approx. Rs 12 billion. However, so far it managed to sell 130 properties whose value turned out to be Rs 10 billion. The 300 properties included spaces like factory buildings, office, shops and residential apartments spread over 25 cities in India. This was a maiden initiative by the bank to dispose its bad or distressed assets through e-auction. Shares of SBI is trading with marginal gains of 0.3%.

Auto stocks are trading with gains of over 0.7%. Shares of Amtek Auto is leading the rally with gains of over 4%. As reported in the financial daily, Amtek, one of the country's largest auto component makers, will be acquiring Germany's Scholz Edelstahl GmbH for 12 billion Euros. The company deals is making hot die forgings for both auto and non-auto companies. According to leading financial sources, the annual revenue of the company is 175 million Euros. The acquisition will be made through the wholly owned subsidiary of Amtek Auto named Amtek Precision Engineering.