Markets continue to trade firm led by autos; M&M up 6%

Markets continued to trade firm in noon trades led by auto shares

Markets continued to trade firm in noon trades on Monday with auto shares leading the gains post first quarter earnings while realty shares firmed up on Sebi nod for REITs.

At 1:20PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 202  points at 25,531 and the 50-share Nifty was up 54 points at 7,623.

The Indian rupee was trading marginally lower at Rs 60.17 compared to the previous close of Rs 60.14. Gains in stock markets helped improve sentiment for the Indian currency.

Asian market gained after easing of tensions between Ukraine and Russia while the internal conflict in Iraq continued to weigh on investor sentiment capping upside gains. The Nikkei ended up 2.3% at 15,130.52 while the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng were up over 1% each while Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.7%.

European shares firmed up in early trades today as easing tensions in Ukraine helped improve investor sentiment. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were up 0.5-1% each.

The BSE Auto index was the top sectoral gainer up 2.3% followed by Realty, Bankex and Capital Goods indices among others. FMCG and Power indices were trading with marginal losses.

Auto shares firmed up post robust earnings during the June quarter and encouraging sales growth during July. M&M was the top Sensex gainer up 6% while Maruti Suzuki was up 1.5%. Tata Motors was up nearly 3% ahead of its June quarter earnings later today.

Among the index heavyweights, Infosys was up 2.1% and HDFC gained 1.6%. L&T and Sesa Sterlite were among the other Sensex gainers.

Bank shares also rebounded on short covering after losses last week following RBI's neutral stance on key rates. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI were up 0.6-1.1% each.

Among other shares, Gati is trading higher by 4% at Rs 142, extending its 10% rally in past two trading days on BSE, after reporting a 111% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 15 crore for the first quarter ended June 2014 (Q1FY15), on back of strong operational performance.

Shares of real estate companies continue to be in focus and trading higher by up to 5% on the bourses after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approved the setting up and listing of Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment Trusts, commonly referred to as REITs.

DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate, Unitech, Oberoi Realty, Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL), Phoenix and Prestige Estates have rallied between 2-5% each.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.8% and Small-cap index was up 1%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,639 gainers and 1,003 losers on the BSE.