BSE Sensex ends 324 up, rupee holds 60/$; RIL, ONGC stars

27 Jun 2013

Equity benchmarks rallied smartly with bouts of short covering on expiry day Thursday, closing near day's high. This was partly led by global cues and on hopes of gas price revision by CCEA in today's meeting.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 323.83 points or 1.75 percent to close at 18875.95, and the 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 93.65 points or 1.68 percent to 5682.35, but the broader markets closed marginally positive.

Sahaj Agrawal, Deputy Vice President - Derivatives Research at Kotak Securities says rollover to the July series remains on the weak side. "Short aggression is not being carried forward to the July series indicating possibility of a bounce back," he adds.

He expects the index to find support at 5550 level and bounce back to 5750-5800 in the near term. "Sustaining above 5800 is expected to push the index 6000-6050."

Siddharth Bhamre of Angel Broking feels July would be like sell on rise kind of market.

"We would like to wait for tomorrow's trading session to see the foreign institutional investor (FII) activities and not to see market movements. If FIIs continue to sell in cash market and form index short positions then this is a wonderful opportunity again to go short," he adds.

Reliance Industries and ONGC were stars of the day, rising between 3.5-4 percent on hopes of gas price revision. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) will be meeting today to decide on a new gas pricing regime starting next fiscal. The committee will take a call on a new gas price formula, one of the recommendations was to hike gas prices to USD 6.77 from the current USD 4.2 per mmBtu.

HDFC pack, which experts call defensive counters, also led the market higher. Private sector lender HDFC Bank rose 3.6 percent and housing finance company HDFC gained 2.7 percent, but top lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank gained just 0.6 percent each.

Meanwhile, rupee remained below the 60 level, though it recovered by 45 paise to 60.26 from its record closing low of 60.71 per dollar. It had hit a life-time low of 60.76 in previous session, which will be beneficial for exporters like technology companies. TCS and Infosys shares advanced 3.85 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Healthcare sector too saw strong buying interest with the Sun Pharma rising 3.5 percent after the company signed patent licensing agreement with Merck for diabetes drug Januvia. Dr Reddys Labs and Cipla were up 2-3 percent.

However, shares of Tata Motors and Maruti topped the selling list, losing more than one percent. Capital goods majors Larsen & Toubro and BHEL closed marginally lower.

Religare Enterprises erased all its 7.7 percent gains and closed with 6 percent loss. The company had decided to sell 6.1 percent stake in the company to US-based Customers Bancorp to meet RBI norms for banking license.

Hanung Toys crashed 19.6 percent as its net profit declined 42.55 percent year-on-year to Rs 66.04 crore on 27.69 percent growth in net sales to Rs 1782.70 crore in the year ended 31st March 2013.

On the global front, European markets were in consolidation mode after seeing 1-2 percent rally in previous session.

Asian markets closed higher, tracking recovery in US markets on hopes that the Federal Reserve may not scale back its USD 85 billion monthly bond purchases program after downward expectations for US GDP. However, only Shanghai closed in red for the fourth consecutive session.

4:00 pm Market closing: It is a blockbuster expiry day for the market. After days of deep cuts, the Nifty and Sensex gain close to two percent. Nifty closes just below 5,700 at 5682.35, up 93.65 points. Sensex adds 323.83 points to end at 18875.95. However, for the series, the benchmark indices are down 7 percent.

3:50 pm Views on gas price: Every USD 1 increase in price will lead to a viability of 9 tcf additional output, says Jal Irani, Managing Director - OIL & Gas Research at Macquarie Group. "USD 6.8/mmBtu, which is healthy, is a far cry from international prices of USD 15-20/mmBtu," he told CNBC-TV18.

Though he agrees that it would be a good start, he says it still wouldn't really allow any of the players, not just Reliance Industries , very aggressive in the space. "The formula suggests that the price of the gas escalates very quickly to about USD 8/mmBtu by early next year. In fact, (if) the Rangarajan Committee formula has to be implemented in full, it could well go in excess of USD 12/mmBtu by FY16, which then full unleashes India's full potential for significant gas reserves," he says.

Jal says Oil India and ONGC are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of the gas price hike. For every dollar increase in gas prices, Oil India 's profits go up 14 percent, while for ONGC it goes up by 10 percent, according to Macquarie estimates. "Of course it remains to be seen whether the government imposes some sort of cess or enhanced subsidy burden on these companies," Jal says.

3:45 pm Gold outlook: Gold, which is trading at its lowest level in nearly 3 years, is in the midst of a long term bear market, and investors should look for an opportunity to exit positions in the precious metal, experts told CNBC.

"It`s a long term bear market. If you bought into it today, don`t expect it`s going to do much. And if you own some and get a rally, get rid of it," said Dennis Gartman, editor of The Gartman Letter, a daily commentary on financial markets.

3:40 pm Winners and losers: ONGC (up 4.1 percent), TCS (up 3.8 percent), HDFC Bank (up 3.6 percent), Sun Pharma ( 3.5 percent) and Reliance (up 3.5 percent) are major gainers. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors , NTPC , Coal India and BHEL are top losers in the Sensex.

3:35 pm Alert: Gujarat Fluorochemicals plans to list wind subsidiary, Inox Wind by FY14. Inox Wind is likely to raise more than Rs 800 crore via IPO. Inox Wind has appointed Axis Cap and Bank of America as lead advisors. Inox Wind contributes 30 percent revenue for Gujarat Fluorochemicals.

3:30 pm Market closing: The Sensex ends up 316.03 points at 18868.15, and the Nifty closes at 5682.35, up 93.65 points (provisional). About 1218 shares have advanced, 1087 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged.

3:25 pm Current affairs: The Commerce Ministry has sought meeting with PM on pharma FDI. The ministry wants to meet PM before the FIPB meet on July 5, reports CNBC-TV18. The meeting with PM  is likely to determine FIPB stance on pharma FDI.

3:20 pm Expert view: Despite prevailing negative sentiment in the economy, Gaurav Mehta of Ambit Capital expects the Nifty to see 6350 if the market keeps its head above 5650-mark.

"The consolidation pattern itself is very mature now and hence a move out of this pattern sometime very soon looks very likely. We would think that sometime later in this calendar year is when one should make an attempt to break the previous high of 6350 and do that successfully," adds Mehta in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

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The market soars on the expiry day as the Sensex is up 355.89 points at 18908.01 while the Nifty adds 103.55 points at 5692.25. The midcap index too is inching higher, up almost a percent. Satyam , HDIL , Hexaware and Opto Circuits are some of the key gainers from the space.

Chris Wood of CLSA says India runs a high risk of sovereign downgrade.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors is the top loser among largecaps, losing over 3 percent. Engineering major Larsen & Toubro and Maruti slipped 0.6 percent each.

Hanung Toys crashed 19 percent to Rs 83.30 as its net profit declined 42.55 percent year-on-year to Rs 66.04 crore on 27.69 percent growth in net sales to Rs 1782.70 crore in the year ended 31st March 2013.

02:55pm Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors is the top loser among largecaps, losing over 3 percent. Engineering major Larsen & Toubro and Maruti slipped 0.6 percent each.

Hanung Toys crashed 19 percent to Rs 83.30 as its net profit declined 42.55 percent year-on-year to Rs 66.04 crore on 27.69 percent growth in net sales to Rs 1782.70 crore in the year ended 31st March 2013.

02:45pm Shares of HDFC Bank , Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sterlite Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and Infosys rallied around 4-4.5 percent.

Reliance Industries and ONGC are the actual leaders in today's trade as Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will meet to decide on a new gas pricing regime starting next fiscal. Committee will take a call on a new gas price formula, one of that is to hike gas prices to USD 6.77 from the current USD 4.2 per mmBtu.

02:35pm Equity benchmarks soared quite smartly, but the market breadth is slightly mixed due to flat to positive trend in midcaps and smallcaps.

The BSE Sensex is up 331.09 points or 1.78 percent at 18883.21, and the Nifty is up 99.50 points or 1.78 percent at 5688.20.

Dealers say the rally is basically on the back of short covering ahead of June expiry.

02:30pm JM Financial shares gained 1.7 percent as the company will apply for banking license today, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

Vikram Pandit and Hari Aiyar will hold stake in banking foray. JM Financial had sold 3 percent to Pandit and Aiyar via issue of warrants.

02:20pm Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in afternoon trade, rising 1.7 percent ahead of June expiry; but broader markets underperformed benchmarks.

The BSE Sensex is up 312.49 points or 1.68 percent at 18864.61, and the Nifty is up 93.65 points or 1.68 percent at 5682.35, but the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are marginal up.

The BSE IT, Healthcare and Oil & Gas are leading gainers today, surging 3 percent each.

Private sector lender HDFC Bank spiked more than 4 percent, but its rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank gained just 0.5 percent.

Reliance Industries and ONGC soared close to 4 percent, and Oil India rose 1.9 percent ahead of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meet for gas price revision today.

1:57 pm Macro outlook: Current account deficit is expected to ease to 4.3 percent in FY14, according to brokerage house Nomura. But financing it will be a major challenge, the brokerage house cautioned.

"We expect the overall current account deficit to moderate to 4.3% of GDP in FY14, as lower gold imports and lower commodity prices likely more than offset the impact of INR depreciation. However, in our view, financing the current account deficit this year will be the key challenge, as not only are there risks from lower portfolio inflows, but debt inflows such as short-term trade credit also suggest caution," said the Nomura note to clients.

1:50 pm Buzzing: Kalpataru Power Transmission shares rose nearly 3 percent after the company secured new orders worth over Rs 1,130 crore.  Of the total orders, Rs 500 crore worth is from Zambia for supply and erection of two projects consisting 330 KV transmission lines of 466 kms.

Another order of Rs 330 crore from Power Grid Corporation is for supply and erection of 765 KV D/C transmission line of 140 kms.

1:45 pm Index check: BSE Bankex is up 1.3 percent, Oil and Gas (up 3 percent), IT (up 2.6 percent), Healthcare (up 2.5 percent), BSE Realty (up 1.3 percent) are big gainers.

1:40 pm Gainers: All eyes are on the crucial Cabinet Committee On Economic Affairs (CCEA) which will meet today to decide on a new gas pricing regime starting next fiscal. So Oil and gas stocks like RIL and ONGC in focus today. Oil and Gas index is up 3.1 percent from the previous close.

1:37 pm Gold update: Gold futures prices today recovered by 0.15 per cent to Rs 26,176 per 10 grams as participants created fresh positions, after the precious metal rebounded from its lowest levels since August 2010 in the global market, reports PTI.

Besides, covering-up of short positions by speculators at prevailing levels, also influenced gold futures prices here. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, metal for delivery in August gained Rs 40, or 0.15 per cent, to trade higher at Rs 26,176 per 10 gm in a turnover of 2,262 lots.

1:32 pm Market check: The Sensex is up 274.64 points at 18826.76, and the Nifty adds 84.45 points at 5673.15. About 1056 shares have advanced, 1044 shares declined, and 157 shares are unchanged.

1:27pm Expert view on June expiry: Nifty is unlikely to end the June series above 5670, says Vineet Bhatnagar, MD, PhillipCapital.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 , Bhatnagar says some of the largecap front-line stocks that are showing strength may come under pressure in the last hour of trade. He believes HDFC Ltd, ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank , Ranbaxy Laboratories , Sun Pharma , JP Associates, Bata India , Dish TV , Hindustan Petroleum Corporation ( HPCL ), Tata Global Beverages  and a host of them from both the midcap and front-line stocks could face some pressure in the last half hour of trade today.

1:20 pm Rupee update: The rupee recovers a tad bit at USD 60.24 per dollar but is still underperforming other emerging markets currencies.

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The market is holding firm on expiry day. The Nifty is inching closer to 5650 led by strength in commodities and rate sensitives. The Nifty is at 5648.95 up 60.25 points while the Sensex is up 201.28 points at 18753.40.

The midcap index too is holding up in the green. In the Futures & Option space, the Nifty rollover are way lower than average and July series options data is inconclusive.

Sun Pharma (up 4.7 percent), ONGC (up 3.7 percent), RIL ( 3.2 percent), Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank are top gainers in the Sensex.

12:59pm Kalpataru Power Transmission shares rose over 3 percent after the company won orders worth over Rs 1,130 crore. New orders include project worth Rs 500 crore in Zambia.

12:55pm Sun Pharma topped the buying list, rising 4.5 percent while its rivals Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs gained 2.3 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

Jindal Steel shares fell 2.5 percent. Inter ministerial group recommends issuing showcause notices to 40 more coal mines. Showcause notices are already issued to Jindal Steel, Hindustan Zinc and Ultratech Cement for delaying production. Coal ministry had issued showcause notice to 30 coal mines earlier this month.

12:45pm Indian rupee gained 34 paise to 60.37 per dollar today from 60.71 in previous session. Dealers say rupee gains on talks of foreign banks cutting long dollar positions.

George Alexander Muthoot, MD of Muthoot Finance expects to maintain current non-performing asset (NPA) level going forward. He said the company has not applied for banking licence as yet. The stock rallied more than 3 percent on top of previous day's 8 percent gains.

12:35pm All eyes are on the crucial Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which will meet today to decide on a new gas pricing regime starting next fiscal. It will take a call on a new gas price formula, one that hikes gas prices to USD 6.77 from the current USD 4.2 per million British thermal unit. ONGC shares surged more than 3 percent and Reliance Industries rose 2.5 percent ahead of that meeting.

National Fertilisers gained 1 percent ahead of the CCEA meet, which is likely to approve a proposal to disinvest over 7 percent in the company.

Equity benchmarks maintained momentum amid choppy trade ahead of expiry today. The Sensex is up 152.83 points or 0.82 percent at 18704.95, and the Nifty is up 46.30 points or 0.83 percent at 5635.

Midcap index lost its early gains as declining shares outnumbered advancing ones  by 1012 to 994 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

European markets are mixed in opening trade today, which closed with 1-2 percent gains in previous session after US first quarter gross domestic product revised downwards that indicates the Federal Reserve may not scale back its USD 85 billion monthly bond purchases program.

12:25pm The rupee has recovered a tad today after the RBI announced stricter rules on hedging and the better-than-expected current account data that came in earlier. But the Indian unit is still underperforming other emerging currencies, which appreciated by 25 paise to 60.46 per dollar.

Religare Enterprises is excited in trade on news that US based, Customers Bancorp have picked up a 6 percent stake in the company for USD 51 million. Religare will issue a combination of warrants and shares to Customers Bancorp and promoters will sell shares worth 22 million dollars to them.

12:15pm Equity benchmarks trimmed gains a bit on profit booking in State Bank of India , ITC and ICICI Bank , but the midcap index turned weak in afternoon trade. Overall the market is volatile a bit ahead of expiry today.

The BSE Sensex is up 144.77 points at 18696.89, and the Nifty is up 46.00 points at 5634.70.

Cigarette major ITC lost 0.5 percent and ICICI Bank is trading with negative bias.

Gold prices bounced back marginally today, after seeing sharp fall in previous session on steep cut in international gold prices. Yesterday gold futures dropped 3 percent while international gold futures lost 5 percent.

Today, gold August futures gained 0.76 percent to USD 1239.15 an ounce in international market.

12:00 pm Buzzing: Manoj Gaur of JP Associates tells CNBC-TV18 that the company has not called off their cement stake sale. The management is confident of concluding the stake sale by the end of the year. The stock is down 2.2 percent on the BSE.

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11:50 am Watch out: All eyes are on the crucial Cabinet Committee On Economic Affairs (CCEA) which will meet today to decide on a new gas pricing regime starting next fiscal. The committee will take a call on a new gas price formula, one that hikes gas prices to USD 6.77 from the current USD 4.2.

11:45 am Buzzing: Magma Fincorp surges 7 percent on hopes that the Kolkata based non-banking finance company will apply for a new banking license as per new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms.

11:40 am Macro outlook: According to Samiran Chakraborty of Standard Chartered Bank, the debt situation warrants some caution. At USD 390 billion debt, India's forex reserves cover (at USD 290 billion) is worryingly inadequate, he told CNBC-TV18. In terms of policy changes to arrest this, he feels a holistic framework is necessary. He sees non-oil and non-gold imports trending lower from June quarter.

11:30 am Winners and losers: Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Reliance, HDFC Bank and M&M are lead gainers in the Sensex. NTPC, Jindal Steel,
Maruti Suzuki, Wipro and Tata Motors are top losers.

11:20 am Management speaks: There are gaps in Tata Motors' product portfolio in the domestic passenger vehicle market, Karl Slym, the company's MD acknowledged on Thursday. He said the company will aim to launch one new product each year in the long-term to bridge this gap.

Slym told CNBC-TV18 that Tata Motors has a portfolio plan until 2020, and it will include new products in the medium-to-long term. It aims to launch one new product each year in the long-term, he said.

An entirely new product from Tata Motors stable is expected sometime in 2015, till then the company will have to continue with refreshing its existing products.

Slym says that JLR is incredibly well-positioned in China, the management is confident of high double-digit growth in JLR in FY14. However, the slowdown in the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment is a big concern.

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The market is still maintaining momentum as the Sensex manages to hold gains. The 30-share BSE index is up 184.80 points at 18736.92, and the Nifty is at 5645.90, up 57.20 points.

Oil and gas, technology and healthcare stocks are lending support to the indices.

India has seen a strong recovery in economy as Janaury-March current account deficit drops to 3.6 percent from 6.7 percent in third quarter. However, India's external debt is up a higher-than-expected 12.9 percent.

The rupee has recovered a tad today after the RBI announced stricter rules on hedging. Bonds continue to sink with the ten-year bond yield rising to 7.6 percent as the sharp rupee depreciation opens up fears of inflation picking up.

Globally, it is a strong rebound in the Asian markets. The upmove is seen amidst fresh signs that central banks around the world will maintain easy monetary policy post downward revision in US Q1 GDP and comments from Mario Draghi who reassured markets by saying that the central bank's policy will remain accommodative for the foreseeable future.

It is a big rally in crude as brent is above USD 102/barrel. However gold is still under pressure. It tumbled 4 percent to USD 1229/oz, close to production cost of USD 1200/oz. Gold has fallen 23 percent this quarter and is headed for biggest quarterly fall since 1920.

10:55am Religare Enterprises trimmed gains to 3 percent from more than 5 percent earlier. Promoters will sell 22.75 percent stake in company to US based bank to meet RBI norms for banking licence.

The Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) will consider ITC pulp project in today's meeting, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

Sources say ITC requires 445 hectares of forest land in Andhra Pradesh. The company will expand plant to 2 lakh tonne per annum and initial capex of Rs 3,500 crore is planned over 5 years. It is learnt that forex savings worth USD 260 million per annum is expected after completion of this project.

10:50am Two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto bounced back with 3 percent gains Thursday, after seeing weakness in previous session on workers' strike at Chakan plant.

Among midcaps, Gitanjali Gems is locked at 10 percent upper circuit today. It shed 50 percent in previous three consecutive sessions.

10:40am Shares of country's largest power producer NTPC fell one percent on profit booking after rising 2 percent in previous session on news the company will sign fuel supply agreement with Coal India in two weeks.

SREI Infrastructure shares lost more than 3 percent as promoter sold 3.4 percent stake in company via off market transaction.

10:25am There are reports that the cabinet may take up gas price revision today. Jal Irani, Managing Director -Oil & Gas Research, Macquarie Group says Indian gas reserve potential is significant.

"At every price hike, production can go up 50 percent and one dollar increase in price leads to viability of 9 tcf additional output," he explains the impact of gas price revision.

According to him, Oil India and ONGC are the biggest beneficiaries of gas price hike.

10:10am Indian equities bounced back quite sharply Thursday, tracking recovery in global markets on hopes that the Federal Reserve may not scale back its USD 85 billion monthly bond purchases program after downward expectations of US GDP.

The BSE Sensex is up 180.75 points or 0.97 percent at 18732.87, and the Nifty is up 57.50 points or 1.03 percent at 5646.20, but the broader markets gained just 0.6 percent.

The Nifty is unlikely to end the June series above 5670, says Vineet Bhatnagar, MD, PhillipCapital. He believes Nifty will not break 5477 in July and will remain range bound in the first week.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee recovers to 60.52 per dollar Thursday from record low closing of 60.71 per dollar on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India announced current account deficit a day earlier.

March quarter current account deficit was USD 18.1 billion, or 3.6 per cent of GDP, lower than expected and below the USD 21.7 billion deficit a year earlier, the Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday. The current account gap for the full fiscal year ending in March 2013 was USD 87.8 billion, which was 4.8 per cent of GDP, compared with USD 78.2 billion a year earlier. The balance of payments for the January-March quarter was a USD 300 million surplus, compared with a USD 600 million deficit a year earlier.

Reliance Industries and ONGC are lead gainers, rising 2-3 percent ahead of CCEA meeting on gas price revision.

Technology majors Infosys and TCS gained 1.8 percent on sharp depreciation in rupee.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by 850 to 412 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

9:55 am: The rupee is at 60.53 per dollar. It opened at 60.45 per dollar, up 26 paise compared to previous day's closing of 60.71.

9:50 am Loser: Gitanjali Gems is losing sheen continously as the stock is down another 9.99 percent at Rs 262.75 on the BSE.

9:45 am Current affairs: The Cabinet may take a decision on the draft Bill for setting up the Coal Regulatory Authority. The draft Bill has been prepared based on the recommendations of various committees and expert groups.

9:40 am Buzzing: US based bank Customers Bancorp Inc is investing USD 51 million in financial services firm Religare Enterprises through a combination of stake sale by founders and issue of share warrants and fresh shares. Religare Enterprises is currently at Rs 354.50, up Rs 14.80, or 4.36 percent on the BSE.

9:38 am Market check: The Sensex is up 190.89 points at 18743.01, and the Nifty is at 5649.20 up 60.50 points. About 772 shares have advanced, 251 shares declined, and 47 shares are unchanged.

9:25 am Macro data: India's March quarter current account deficit was USD 18.1 billion , or 3.6 per cent of GDP, lower than expected and below the USD 21.7 billion deficit a year earlier, the Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday. The current account gap for the full fiscal year ending in March 2013 was USD 87.8 billion, which was 4.8 per cent of GDP, compared with USD 78.2 billion a year earlier. The balance of payments for the January-March quarter was a USD 300 million surplus, compared with a USD 600 million deficit a year earlier.

9:20 am Gainers and losers: Sterlite Industries, Sun Pharma , Bajaj Auto , M&M and Hindalco are top gainers in the Sensex. Hero Motocorp and Tata Motors are laggrads.

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The market opens on a strong note after rupee played havoc in Wednesday's trade. The Sensex opens up 182.91 points at 18735.03, and the Nifty adds 59.25 points at 5647.95.

The rupee came off its record high in early trade Thursday. It opened at 60.45 per dollar, up 26 paise compared to previous day's closing of 60.71.

On Wednesday, the rupee touched its all-time high of 60.76 per dollar due to defence and crude oil related demands.

"One can now say that global markets have stabilized, but the fall in rupee is disastrous. Given the global markets are, the Nifty might see some pullback in the opening trade today. It is also likely that we may see a rally as this series expires," CNBC-TV18's managing editor Udayan Mukherjee said.

Asian markets were trading higher in the morning on Thursday.

US markets closed sharply higher after the weaker-than-expected final read on first-quarter gross domestic product diminished worries that the Fed would taper its stimulus measures in the immediate future. The CBOE volatility index declined near 17.

US treasury prices eased their gains after the government sold USD 35 billion in five-year notes at a high yield of 1.484 percent. On the economic data front, the US GDP expanded at a tepid 1.8 percent annual rate from a previously reported 2.4 percent pace. Economists had expected first-quarter GDP growth would be left unrevised at 2.4 percent.