Markets end higher for third straight session; Nifty ends above 8,300

Benchmark indices closed higher for the third straight session after a volatile day of trading  ahead of the F&O expiry on Wednesday. Firm global cues and a rebound in crude oil prices bolstered market sentiments.

Provisionally, the 30-share Sensex closed up 330 points at 27,702 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 99 points at 8,324.

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(updated at 3:15 PM)

Benchmark indices are trading on a firm note and have gained over 1% each led by strong buying in HDFC twins, ITC and auto shares. Firm global cues and a rebound in crude oil prices have bolstered market sentiments.
 

 At 3:15PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 345 points at 27,716 and the 50-share Nifty was up 104 points at 8,330.

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(Updated at 14:25 PM)

Markets extended gains in noon trades on the back of gains in ITC, HDFC twins, M&M and ONGC. At 1425 hrs, the Sensex was up 128 points at 27,500 and the Nifty gained 37 points at 8,262.

In the broader markets, midcap index edged higher with gains of nearly 0.7% and teh smallcap index was almost unchanged with a 0.3%

IT index down 0.7% was the only sectoral index in red.
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Benchmark indices were trading within a very narrow rage in an otherwise volatile hour of trade, marking its third consecutive day of gains. At 1310 hrs, the Sensex was up 56 points at 27,428 while the Nifty added 17 points to trade at 8,242.

The volatility seen in today's trade is widely expected due to the expiry in the equity derivative segment this Wednesday. Also, market watchers will be closely tracking the progress of key reforms bill which will be tabled in the Parliament as the winter session comes to a close on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, selling by foreign institutional investors continued unabated and they were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 668.85 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Gains in the broader markets were sharper with the midcap index up 0.5%. The smallcap index added another 0.3%, almost in line with the BSE benchmark index.

Consumer Durables, FMCG and Power were the top gainers of the hour with the respective sectoral indices up a percent each.

Among the ones in red were Bankex, Capital Goods and IT down upto 0.8%.

From the IT pack, TCS and Infosys were weaker by nearly 1% each while Wipro was flat with a positive bias.

Oil and gas shares were trading mixed as oil prices rose in Asia today, extending a sharp rebound at the end of last week, with analysts predicting the sector has bottomed out after plunging almost 50% since June. ONGC and GAIL gained around 1-2%. However, RIL was down by 0.5%.

There was some fresh buying in teh auto space. M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Maruti gained 0.4-2%.

Metal stocks were weak with Hindalco and Tata Steeel down over 1% each.

Other notable losers among Sensex-30 were ICICI Bank and L&T losing 1% each.

Shares of tyre manufacturers were under pressure and have slipped up to 5% on reports that tyre companies have agreed to procure rubber at 25% higher price.

JK Tyre and Industries was the largest loser among the pack, down 5%. Among the other individual stocks, Ceat dipped 3.4% to Rs 855, followed by Apollo Tyres down 1.4% at Rs 220 and MRF 1% at Rs 37,512.

The market breadth was marginally negative on BSE. 1345 tocks declined while 1324 stocks advanced.

Global Markets

Asian shares took their cues from Wall Street and kicked off a holiday-shortened week on a strong footing on Monday as oil prices recovered.  

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended gains and was up 1.4%. Japan's Nikkei stock average pared early gains but managed to eke out a 0.1% rise ahead of a Japanese public holiday on Tuesday.