Markets off day lows, IT gains

Gains in heavyweight names like Tata Motors, Infosys and HDFC help the indices edge higher in noon trades

Markets recovered from day lows as gains in heavyweight names like Tata Motors, Infosys and HDFC helped the indices edge higher in noon trades. At 1405 hrs, the Sensex was up 61 points at 20,395 and the Nifty added 16 points at 6,070.

In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap indices gained 0.2% each, both underperforming the Sensex which was up 0.3%.

On the sectoral front, Realty, Power, Oil & Gas and Health Care were the only indices in the negative, down 0.4-0.8%.

Meanwhile, IT and Consumer Durables indices added over 1% each.

Auto, Teck, Bankex and Capital Goods indices up 0.2-0.8% were the other sectoral gainers.

Tata Motors up 3% was the top Sensex gainer after reporting a better than expected almost three-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,805 crore for the quarter ended December 2013, on back of strong demand, growth in volumes and favourable product mix and geographic mix at Jaguar Land Rover.

Tata Steel, HDFC, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Tata Power up 1% each were the top gainers.

TCS, Axis Bank, SBI, Sesa Sterlite, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC up 0.2-0.6% were the other notable gainers.

Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco, NTPC, Dr Reddys Lab and Bharti Airtel down 1-2% were the major losers.

Index heavyweight, Relaince Industries dipped nearly 2%, its lowest price since August 28, 2013, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock opened at Rs 823 and touched a high of Rs 825 in early morning deals. A combined 1.73 million shares have changed hands on the counter so far on the NSE and BSE.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1,292 stocks declined while 1,204 stocks advanced .

Rupee

The rupee was trading strong due to dollar flows from custodian banks.

At 1400 hrs, the rupee was trading at Rs 62.08 compared with previous close of Rs 62.44 per dollar.

But currency dealers say public sector banks may buy dollars for oil marketing companies (OMCs) later in the day, which will keep rupee under pressure.


Global Markets

Asian shares firmed and gold prices hit a three-month high on Tuesday as investors wagered the new head of the U.S. Federal Reserve would navigate her first testimony to Congress without rocking the boat for markets.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen appears before the House Financial Services Committee at 1500 GMT and will likely face questions on the state of the labor market and the future pace of tapering.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.1%, with Hong Kong leading the way by climbing 1.8%.

European markets started on a strong footing with all the major indices, CAC, DAX and FTSE gaining between 0.4-0.7%.