Market at day highs led by Tata Group shares

TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Power among top Sensex gainers

Benchmark share indices were trading near their day highs, amid firm Asian cues, with Tata Group shares leading the most.

At 11:20am the 30-share Sensex was up 262 points at 18,841 after touching an intra-day high of 18,869 and the 50-share Nifty was up 77 points at 5,727 after touching a high of 5,735 so far.

The rupee rose to a near five-month high on Friday after the government stuck to its fiscal second half borrowing and said it will not borrow more via bonds in the current year.The rupee rose to a high of 52.55, a level not seen since May 1. It was trading at 52.70/71 in recent trades versus 53.01/02 last close.

Asian shares rose on Friday as Spain's economic reform plan eased worries about euro zone's finances, while the strength in oil prices also lent support. All Asian indices except for Nikkei was trading with gains.

All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in the green led by Auto, Metal, Realty and Power indices up 1.8-2.7%.

Tata Group shares were among the top Sensex gainers after the group's holding company Tata Sons invested Rs 220 crore in Infiniti on Wednesday, which will enable the company to buy out Woolworths Wholesale and expand the Croma business, said Ajit Joshi, chief executive officer and managing director of Infiniti Retail.
 
Among the Sensex stocks, TCS, Tata Power, Tata Motors, and Tata Steel were up 2.8-4.8% each.

Auto shares were up on hopes that sales growth would pick in October ahead of the festive season. According to Religare Institutional Research, dealers expect the festive season this year to ring in better sales, with Diwali and Dusshera falling in different months – these two festivals were both in October last year – implying customers would have two-month’s salary to spend on purchases.  Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were up 1.3-2.7% each.

FMCG majors Hindustan Unilever and ITC were up over 1.2% each on hopes that normal monsoon rains would help boost farm income leading to higher rural spends.

In the oil and gas space, index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 1.3% at Rs 841 while ONGC was up 1.8%.

In the broader market, Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 1% each. Market breadth was very strong with 1695 stocks advancing and 737 stocks declining on the BSE.