Benchmark indices opened flat ahead of the GDP data for the December quarter, which will be out on Friday. The BSE barometer, the Sensex was trading 64.70 points or 0.31% higher at 20,915.30 points, while the NSE’s Nifty was trading 15.05 points or 0.24% higher at 6,215.10 points at 11.30 am IST.
Experts expect India’s GDP to improve, going ahead. “After reviewing various growth indicators, we think the headwinds buffeting India?s economy might be easing at the margin, as some of the bottlenecks in key industries are being cleared. While this may not be a conclusive signal of stronger activity, we think these improvements could play a catalytic role in facilitating a recovery in growth in FY 14-15,” Barclays said in a recent research note.
Among sectoral indices, the BSE Capital Goods (1.05%), BSE Consumer Durables (0.68%) and BSE FMCG (0.58%) were the major gainers. Among individual stocks, Gail (3.08%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (1.62%) and Bharti Airtel (1.44%) were among the major gainers on the 30-share Sensex.
Asian indices were showing a mixed trend. The Nikkei (-0.43%), the Straits Times (-0.57%) and the Jakarta Composite (-0.45%) were trading in the red. The Hang Seng (0.12%), Kospi (0.40%) and Taiwan Taiex (0.29%) were trading in the green.
