Markets gain as blue chips edge higher

HDFC, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Wipro and L&T aid the up move

Markets added on to their gains in late morning trades as gains in heavyweights like HDFC, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Wipro and L&T helped the indices edge higher.

At 1130 hrs, the Sensex was up 59 points at 19,915 and the Nifty added 16 points to trade at 5,889.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index gained 0.5% and the midcap index as up 0.2% in line with the BSE benchmark index.

On the sectoral front, Oil & Gas and Realty indices were down 0.7% each followed by Consumer Durables, Power, PSU and FMCG indices down 0.1-0.5%.

Meanwhile, Health Care, Capital Goods, Metal, IT, Auto and Tech indices gained 0.4-1%.

Sun Pharma and BHEL up 3% each were the top gainers in late morning trades.

Wipro, Coal India, Tata Steel, HDFC, Sesa Goa, L&T and Mahindra & Mahindra up 1-2% were the other notable gainers.

Among the ones in the red were Jindal Steel, NTPC, Gail India, ONGC and Reliance Industries down 1-2%.

Hero MotoCorp, Cipla, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Power losing 0.4-0.7% were the other prominent losers.

Shares of shipping companies have rallied up to 16% on the bourses as the Baltic Dry Index jumped 5.2% on Wednesday to its highest since December 23, 2011.

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Mercator, ABG Shipyard, Bharati Shipyard and Varun Shipping Company were up 5-19%.

The market breadth was positive. 969 stocks advanced while 802 stocks declined on the BSE.

In Asia markets were mixed as investors sweated out the latest battle over the U.S. budget, though Tokyo rallied as talk of a corporate tax cut resurfaced.

After a weak start, Japan's Nikkei erased all its losses to be up 0.3 % after Kyodo News reported the government would consider cutting corporate taxes, a proposal that has swung in and out of favor for weeks now.

Elsewhere caution was the watchword, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.3 %. Shanghai stocks shed 1.3 % and Singapore lost 0.5 %.