Markets add gains, IT cos, refiners surge

BSE-IT, Oil & Gas lead gains on BSE

Indian shares extended gains in afternoon trades on Thursday supported by buying in software makers and oil marketing companies.

IT pack lead gains after slew of upbeat quarterly results by sector heavy-weights raised hopes of growth recovery in the beleaguered technology sector. HCL Technologies, Wipro gained 2-5% on BSE today.

Meanwhile, oil marketing companies such as BPCL, HPCL rallied after government allowed oil refiners to partially hike diesel prices in a phased manner. This will help bring down the oil subsidy burden of OMCs.

At 2:15PM, the 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 157 points and traded at 19,976.19 and the 50-share Nifty rose 44 points at 6,046 in late trades.

In the results calendar, Hero MotoCorp is scheduled later today while HDFC Bank, ITC, Reliance Industries and Wipro on Jan 18.

Globally, Asian  markets dropped ahead of key Chinese economic data including fourth-quarter GDP, December industrial output, retail sales and house price on Friday, which will offer clues on the health of Asia's biggest economy.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.07% to 23,340, Taiwan's Weighted index fell 1% to 7,616,  Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.34% to 3,198  while China's Shanghai Composite declined 1% to 2,285 and Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.1% to 10,609.

European stocks traded on a mixed note. France's CAC gained 0.02% to 3,709, Germany's DAX dropped 0.15% to 7,679 while UK's FTSE fell 0.1% to 6,097.

Back home, oil &gas, real-estate, technology, IT, banks gained while metals, capital goods, capital goods, consumer durables and healthcare indexes dropped on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks,  Cipla and SunPharma dropped 2% and 0.4%, Bajaj Auto & Hero MotoCorp fell 1%, ICICI Bank fell 0.17% and 0.4%, Hindalco, Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel down 0.4-0.5% on BSE.

Among gainers,  ONGC and Bharti Airtel jumped 5% and 3% respectively, TCS, Infosys and Wipro were up 1-2%, Reliance Industries was up 2%, ITC gained 0.8%, among autos, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki gained 2% and 1%, and SBI, HDFC Bank gained 1% each on BSE.

HCL Technologies, country's fourth-biggest software exporter, rallied 5% to Rs 707 in after reporting a better-than-expected 9% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 965 crore for the second quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q2). Revenue rose by 3% sequentially to Rs 6,274 crore during the recently concluded quarter.

The other notable movers includes,  Wipro that is trading up 3% at Rs 432 ahead of its earnings for the third quarter ended December 2012 (Q3) which will be announced tomorrow. India’s third-largest outsourcing company, on Tuesday said that its board will also consider the proposal for declaration of interim dividend for the financial year 2012-13.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) rallied after Government partially deregulated diesel prices today. India's three-biggest OMCs namely Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp gained between 2-4% on BSE.

Reliance Industries gained nearly 2% on hopes of improved refining margins by the world's biggest refiner in the third quarter after surge in GRMs by the Essar Oil.

The broader markets traded flat  with mid-caps and small-caps  tad up 0.1% on BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,847 stocks traded, 1,446 stocks declined compared to 1,252 advanced on BSE.