Markets range-bound; Q1 earnings weigh

BSE-IT index out-performed by surging nearly 3 per cent after robust TCS results

Markets traded range-bound with a positive bieas in the afternoon session  on back of significant buying witnessed in software makers, however, caution remained ahead of the key earnings announcement later in the day.

At 2:15PM, the 30-share Sensex gained  89 points at 20,215 and the 50-share Nifty rose 9 points at 6,047 levels.

Domestically, companies such as HDFC, JK Paper, Bajaj Auto, Federal Bank and Reliance Industries will report their April-June earnings later today.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks pared early gains on back of caution ahead of Japanese elections.

Market participants expect Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to win Sunday's upper house election which will help his government pursue aggressive reflationary policies.

Japan’s Nikkei declined 1.5% to 14,589, Singapore Straits Times declined 0.33% to 3,207, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 1.5% at 1,992 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was tad up 0.08% to 21,362 today.

European shares traded lower after profit at Google Inc and Microsoft Corp trailed estimates. France’s CAC declined 0.4% to 3,910, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.45% to 8,299 while UK’s FTSE rose 0.4% to 6,608.

Among the key sectoral indices capital goods, bankex, power, realty,  power indices dropped while IT, autos and oil & gas sectors gained on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as TCS gaining 5.2%, Bajaj Auto surged 4%, Hero MotoCorp rose 3.5%, Tata Motors added 3.5%, Bharti Airtel gained 2.8% on the BSE.

The laggards were BHEL declined 6.8%, Jindal Steel dropped 3%, Sun Pharma dropped 2.5%, Sterlite Industrial shed 2.2%, ICICI Bank was down 2.2% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is trading higher by nearly 5% at Rs 1,724, also its record high on BSE, after reporting  better- than-expected consolidated net profit at Rs 3,831 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1 FY2014).

D B Corp that has surged 8% to Rs 268 on reporting a strong 74% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 76 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1 FY2014) on back of strong growth in advertising revenues. The media company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 43.65 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has tanked over 7% to Rs 176 in noon deals on back of heavy volumes. The stock opened at Rs 189 and touched a low of Rs 175 on BSE. A combined 8.39 million shares have already changed hands on the counter so far against an average sub 3 million shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on BSE and NSE.

The broader markets traded lower with mid-caps and small-caps dropping 0.2 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,257 stocks traded so far, 1,164 stocks declined while 962 stocks advanced on the BSE.