Markets at day's high on growth recovery optimism

Broader markets gains nearly 0.5%, out-performing benchmark indices

Markets edged higher in late-morning trades this Tuesday on hopes of global growth recovery after Alcoa Inc, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates as demand from airplane and car manufacturers increased.

At 11:40AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 89 points at 18,526.50 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty gained 46 points at 5,589.50.

Domestic investor sentiments remained sluggish on account of fourth quarter earnings season, which begins with Infosys results on Friday will decide the market trend going ahead.   

Industrial production numbers, which is due on Friday, may also have some impact on the trading sentiment this week as IIP data is likely to be a key input for RBI's next policy review on May 3.

Asian markets traded firm with China’s Shanghai Composite Index adding 0.6% to 2,225, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1% to 21,934, Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.6% to 3,304 while Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.02% to 13,202.

Back home, the key sectoral indices such as IT and technology sectors declined while capital goods, real-estate, metal, banking sectors gained on BSE.

The gainers included stocks such as Jindal Steel and Tata Steel adding 3% and 1.6% respectively, ICICI Bank gained 3%, L&T was up 2% while HDFC added 1.9% on BSE.

The laggards were Wipro shedding 11%, Bharti Airtel down 1.6%, Infosys declined 0.7% on BSE.

The other notable stock movers included counters such as, Wipro has dipped over 11% to Rs 398 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trades after the stock of information technology (IT) consulting and software provider demerged its non-IT businesses.

TVS Motor Company has dipped 10% to Rs 35.80 on profit booking after the stock surged 25% in past four-trading days on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 38.80 and hit a low of Rs 35.65 so far. A combined 5.06 million shares have changed hands on the counter till 1110 hours on BSE and NSE.

The broader markets traded positive with mid-caps and small-caps gaining nearly 0.5-0.6% on BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,342 stocks traded, 1,108 stocks gained compared to 745 declines on BSE.