Markets gain; Nifty above 6,300

Broader markets outperform with the midcap index up 1%

Markets gained in the closing hour with the Nifty topping the 6,300 mark and the Sensex advanced 163 points to trade at 21,197.
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Benchmark indices were trading flat ahead of the expiry of October derivatives contracts as gains in heavyweights like RIL, SBI and Bharti Airtel  were negated by the losses in ONGC, HDFC Bank and ITC.

At 1430 hrs, the Sensex was down three points at 21,031 and the Nifty was flat at 6,252.

In the broader markets, the midcap index gained 1% and the smallcap index inched up 0.2%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was flat with a positive bias.

Rupee

The rupee weakened in early trade today due to dollar demand from importers on the last day of the month.

At 1400 hrs, the rupee was trading at Rs 61.35 compared with previous close of Rs 61.24 per dollar.

Global Markets

Asian markets suffered a glancing blow on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy outlook was deemed less dovish than some had wagered on, lifting both bond yields and the dollar.

The damage was mostly superficial with MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off just 0.6 percent. Shares in Shanghai lost 0.6 percent, while Australian markets held steady.

In Asia, sentiment was helped by the Bank of Japan's decision to stick with its massive stimulus program that has shown tentative signs of breaking the grip of deflation.

European stocks pulled back from five-year highs with all the major indices trading in the red. CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 0.2-0.4%.

Sectors & Stocks

Barring IT, Auto, FMCG and Health Care indices which were down 0.1-0.6%, all the other indices were in the green.

Bankex, Consumer Durables and PSU indices up 1% each were the major gainers.

Metal, Capital Goods, Realty, Oil & Gas and Teck indices which added 0.2-0.8% were the other sectoral gainers.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include SBI, Wipro, Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel, RIL,Coal India, L&T, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors spurted between 1.5-3.5%.

On the losing side, ONGC, M&M, HUL, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Hindustan Unilever and Cipla declined between 1-2%.

Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL, NTPC, Gail India and Tata Power gave off 0.6-0.9%.

The market breadth in BSE was negative. 1,218 stocks declined while 1,155 stocks advanced.