Markets continue firm trades, Bharti Airtel up 4%

However, frontline stocks like Infosys, TCS and HDFC Bank were marginally lower by 0.3-0.4%

Markets continued to trade in the positive territory in noon deals on account of gains in heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and HDFC. At 1305 hrs, the Sensex was up 52 points at 20,981 and the Nifty added 15 points to trade at 6,235.

In the broader markets, the midcap index was up 0.4% and the smallcap index added 0.8%, both outperforming the Sensex which was up 0.2%

Global Markets

Asian share markets took heart from record highs in U.S. stocks on Wednesday as investors wagered the Federal Reserve would rock no boats at its policy meeting and leave stimulus in place for the next few months at least.

Japan's Nikkei led the way with a gain of 1.2%, while Australian shares added 0.3% and Shanghai stocks 1%. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan crept up 0.5%.

European shares edged higher with CAC, DAX and FTSE starting off with gains of atleast 0.5%.

Rupee

The rupee weakened in early trade today due to dollar buying by importers. Sentiment was cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting this week.

At 1300hrs, the rupee was trading at Rs 61.47 compared with previous close of Rs 61.32 per dollar.

Currency dealers see the rupee trading in the range of Rs 61.30 to 62.50 for the rest of the day.

Sectors & Stocks

On the sectoral front, Realty, Health Care, Consumer Durables, Bankex and Teck indices gained 0.5-1.5%.

On the other hand, Auto, Metal and Oil & Gas indices slipped 0.1-0.4%.

PSU, FMCG and Capital Goods indices were flat with a negative bias.

Among the losers, Wipro and Mahindra & Mahindra were down 2% followed by SSLT, Tata Power, ONGC, L&T, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp losing 0.6-1.5%.

Index heavyweights, Infosys, TCS and HDFC Bank were marginally lower by 0.3-0.4%.

Bharti Airtel was the top Sensex gainer, up 4% after the company said its consolidated operating or EBITDA margin improvement for the second quarter ended September 2013.

Other notable gainers are BHEL, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy’s Lab, TCS, Bajaj Auto, TCS and HDFC, all adding gains between 1-3%.

The market breadth was marginally positive. 1,111 stocks advanced while 1,003 stocks declined on the BSE.