Market near day's high amid firm European cues

Gains were led by IT exporters amid a weakening rupee while bank shares reversed early losses

Markets are trading near their day's high, amid firm European cues, led by IT exporters amid a weakening rupee while bank shares reversed early losses.

At 2:30pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 228 points at 26,853 and the Nifty50 gained 66 points at 8,237.  In the broder markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.5% each. Market breadth is strong with 1321 gainers and 1131 losers on the BSE.

Earlier, markets witnessed a knee-jerk reaction after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's decision not to continue after September 3 took everyone by surprise.

The Indian rupee which had fallen sharply in early trades after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan's decided not to seek a second term has trimmed losses and is trading 29 paise lower at 67.37.

Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 32 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares were also trading higher with Japanese stocks gaining the most. The benchmark Nikkei ended up 2.3% while China's Shanghai Composite ended flat with positive bias. Among others, Straits Times and Hang Seng were up 1.3%-1.7% each.

European shares were trading higher after worries over Britain exiting the European Union eased slightly with bank shares leading the gains. The FTSE-100, DAX and CAC-40 were up 2.4%-3.3% each.


STOCKS

IT exporters firmed up on the back of a weakening rupee. Infosys was up 2.3% while TCS gained 2% and Wipro was up nearly 1%.

HCL Technologies was trading higher by nearly 4% at Rs 780, extending its Friday’s gain on the BSE, after the company announced that it has signed a strategic IT partnership contract with LeasePlan, a global fleet management and driver mobility company of Dutch origin.

Banking stocks have recouped early losses and have turned positive. SBI is up 1% while HDFC Bank gained 0.5%. ICICI Bank was trading flat with positive bias.

Larsen & Toubro was up 1.6% after the company said its subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering has won orders valued at Rs. 1170 crore.

Bharti Airtel extended gains and was up nearly 2% on upgrades by brokerages, given its robust spectrum holdings, gains on revenue market share and potential improvement in Africa operations.

Auto stocks were also among the top gainers with Tata Motors up 1.6%. The auto major's arm JLR India, on Monday launched the 2 litre petrol derivative of Land Rover Discovery Sport at a starting price of Rs 56.50 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Oil stocks were also among the top gainers with Reliance Industries up 0.9% and ONGC gained 1.9%.