Shanghai Composite is up by 0.35% to 2,949.41 and Hang Seng Index gained 0.51% to 24,128.74. Separately, Straits Times and Seoul Composite are trading up by 0.68% and 0.22% respectively. In the domestic arena, the markets are likely to follow the rout of global counterpart and trade range-bound with upside movement. IT, TECk and Auto pivotals will be in focus today.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading higher by 1.29% to 9,682.21 as U.S. consumer confidence improved and Japan’s government announced that 90% of the country’s earthquake-hit factories will resume production by July.
Further, UPS (UPS 74.30, +0.66) benefited from a nice bid on the back of its latest quarterly report and forecast. Ford (F 15.66, +0.12) also attracted some interest following its latest quarterly announcement. Whereas, Ford's Japanese competitors Honda (HMC 37.61, -0.22), Toyota (TM 78.66, -0.85), and Nissan (NSANY 18.76, +0.31) failed to be at par with Ford amid news that their rating outlooks were lowered by analysts at S&P due to the impact of the massive earthquakes in Japan last month.
Airline stock ascended sharply with news that earnings from both Delta Air Lines (DAL 9.99, +0.99) and US Airways (LCC 8.80, +0.52) exceeded the Wall Street expectation. Blue chip IBM (IBM 168.49, +0.82) gathered a modest gain, but lagged the overall market after it declared a 15% increase to its dividend and the designation of $8 billion for share repurchases.
On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 407516 with a total turnover of Rs. 11483.92 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 904035 with a total turnover of Rs. 24862.27 Crore.
Total numbers of contracts for index options were 2442758 with a total turnover of Rs. 71992.00 Crore. and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 130722 with a total turnover of Rs. 4019.27 Crore.
On BSE, total number of shares traded was 31.36 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs. 3096.70 Crore. On NSE, total number of shares traded was 65.89 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs. 11995.31 Crore.