Markets jump in morning deals

Auto, IT and banking stocks lead

After opening on a flat note, the markets have moved higher on the back of buying visible in the auto, IT and banking stocks. The Sensex is up 100 points at 17,513 and the 50-share Nifty has advanced 27 points to 5,309.

The BSE auto index has emerged as the top sectoral gainer led by gains in auto heavyweight Tata Motors. The index is up 1.3% or 118 points at 9,290 levels. IT and bankex indices are also trading higher by 1% each in the morning deals. All the other sectoral indices are also trading in the positive territory. Realty, capital goods, metal and healthcare indices are up 0.6-0.9% each.

Among the IT stocks, Tech Mahindra is the top gainer, up 1.6% at Rs 763. Infosys, HCL Technologies, TCS, Hexaware Technologies, Financial Technologies and OFSS are the top gainers.

From the banking space, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Indusind Bank, SBI, IDBI Bank and Bank of Baroda are the top gainers.

Among the individual stocks Standard Chartered Plc, the lone India listed foreign bank, has dipped over 7% at Rs 96 on reports that the New York's top bank regulator threatened to strip the state banking license of Standard Chartered Plc, on violating of U.S money laundering law by conducting $250 billion of transactions with Iranian banks.

Escorts Limited has rallied 6% at Rs 62.70 after reporting over two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 26.88 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, due to new launches, better product mix and low inventory costs. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 13.22 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.
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(Updated at 9:25 AM)

Markets have opened on a flat note in trades today tracking flat global cues. The Sensex has opened higher by 43 points at 17,455 and the 50-share Nifty has advanced 11 points to open at 5,293 levels.

Overnight, the US stocks ended higher on Monday on hopes for more assistance for the troubled euro zone. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.2 per cent each.

Asian markets were trading flat as investors maintained hope that Europe will take further action to tackle its debt crisis and the United States and China will adopt stimulus measures to boost growth. Nikkei was up 0.6% at 8,781 and Hang Seng was up 0.25% at 20,049.

Back home, Sun Pharma is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 1.3% to open at Rs 680 after the company said it is planning to consider internal restructuring of the business and to announce first quarter results. Tata Motors, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, TCS and Jindal Steel have also opened higher by 0.3-1.3% each.

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp is the top loser from the heavyweight space down 1.26% at Rs 1,955. Index  heavyweight Reliance Industries is trading lower on the back of profit booking after a sharp rise in yesterday's trading session. It is trading lower by 0.5% at Rs 780.

Coal India, HDFC, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Sterlite Industries and Maruti Suzuki are also trading marginally lower.

The BSE IT index is the top sectoral gainer, up 1% at 5,396. Healthcare, realty, auto, bankex and FMCG indices are trading flat up 0.2-0.7% each.

At the same time, oil & gas, PSU and power indices are trading marginally lower.

The broader markets are in-line with the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap index is up 0.3% at 6,121 and the small-cap index is up 0.4% at 6,622.

The overall breadth is positive as 902 stocks are advancing while 477 are declining.