US judge blocks Trump's controversial travel & ban

9:52 am Market Update: Equity benchmarks extended rally, with the Sensex rising 229.90 points to 28973.22

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The Nifty is inching towards 8950, up 60.55 points at 8940.15.

https://ibm.co/2HDlkZC

More than three shares advanced for every share declining on the BSE.

1. Share price of Metalyst Forgings added 8 percent intraday ahead of extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held on March 23.
2. The company's EGM is scheduled to be held on March 23 to consider issue of 44 lakh equity shares to Amtek Auto at Rs 100 per share and 24 lakh warrants to Amtek Auto at Rs 100 each on preferential basis.
3. Amtek Auto is a promoter group company and as on December 2016 it holds 49.26 percent stake in the company.

9:30 am GDP data: The Indian economy grew at a surprisingly fast 7 percent in October-December 2016, from 7.4 percent in the previous quarter and 7.2 percent expansion in third quarter 2015-16, government data showed on Tuesday.

The data, put out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), also projected that Indian’s “real” or inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) will likely to grow at 7.1 percent in 2016-17, 0.8 percentage points slower than the previous year’s 7.9 percent expansion.

While the projections have surprised many experts, the CSO has actually forecast a greater slide in gross value added (GVA), suggesting that deceleration is sharper than what the headline GDP growth numbers suggest.

The CSO data shows that growth in GVA, which is GDP minus net taxes, will slow down to 6.7 percent in 2016-17 or 1.1 percentage points lower than 7.8 percent GVA growth in 2015-16.

Moneycontrol's Election Analytics Centre: Track assembly polls

9:15 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks opened higher after weakness in previous session, following better-than-expected Q3 GDP data and positive Asian cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 139.37 points at 28882.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 37.85 points at 8917.45. About 719 shares advanced against 164 declining shares on the BSE.

BHEL, Hero Motocorp, ONGC, Axis Bank, Cipla, Bharti Infratel and Power Grid Corp were early gainers while Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Idea Cellular, UltraTech Cement and M&M were under pressure.

The Indian rupee has opened lower by 9 paise at 66.78 per dollar on Wednesday versus previous close of 66.69.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank says the USD-INR pair continued to trade strong in the 66.50-67/dollar range on the back of global positive risk sentiment, resumption of portfolio flows, and strong intervention.

He expects the pair to continue trading in this range with RBI expected to cap gains.

The dollar weakened slightly as investors awaited President Donald Trump's speech to congress for fresh indications of his economic plans and as portfolios were rebalanced for month-end.

[blurb]Investors are also focused on when the Federal Reserve is likely to next raise interest rates as a plethora of Federal Reserve officials deliver speeches this week, culminating in an address by Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Friday.[/blurb]

[quote]Asia markets were mostly higher today, shrugging off modest US losses from Tuesday, as traders focused on President Donald Trump's address to the US Congress.

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