Markets extend gains amid firm European cues, ITC leads

Markets extended gains in late noon trades, amid firm cues from Europe, with index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC leading the gains.

AT 2:30PM , the 30-share Sensex was up 101 points at 20,132 and the 50-share Nifty was up 20 points at 6,103.

Japan's benchmark share index Nikkei rose on Tuesday, with investors picking up recently battered stocks as the market regained a degree of stability after the extreme volatility of the past few days. The Nikkei gained 169 points to 14,312, after dropping as much as 1.4% to below 14,000 at the open which came on top of Monday's 3.2% slump.

Back home, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that regardless of any government at the Centre the country will grow by 5-6%, but to reach the brisk rate of 8 or 9% effective governance is needed.

European shares were up in early trades on hopes that global central banks would continue their stimulus measures to boost economy. AMong the major share indices in the region, CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were up over 1% each.
 

The BSE Oil and Gas index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE up 1.8% followed by Power, FMCG, Realty, COnsumer Durables, Auto and Metal indices.

Coal India has gained 3.4% to Rs 324 after it reported better-than-expected 35% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 5,413 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 on back of higher than expected sales volumes. Further, the board's decision to rationalise coal prices from May 28,2013 also boosted sentiment.

Reliance Ind extended gains and was up 2.2% at Rs 846 after the company announced new gas find at KG D6 block. ONGC was up 1.5% at Rs 332.

Private bank share also staged a recovery in late noon trades. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were up 0.7-1.1% each.

Bharti Airtel was up 1.8% on reports that the issue of spectrum refarming will be placed before the next meeting of Empowered Group of Ministers.

Other Sensex gainers include BHEL, M&M, ONGC, and Hero MotoCorp, all gaining between 2-4% each.

Among other shares, Infinite Computer Solutions (India) is locked in upper circuit filter of 10% to Rs 90.85 on NSE after announcing the buyback of its own equity shares from the public shareholders.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.5-0.6% each.

Markets breadth was positive with 1,191 gainers and 1,073 losers on the BSE.