Markets off early highs; Infosys up 4%

Weakness in ITC, Sun Pharma and Sesa Sterlite cap gains in noon trades

Markets slipped in noon trades on account of profit booking at higher levels. The ones capping the gains in It banking space were ITC, Sun Pharma and Sesa Sterlite.

After a slight rise in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in July following two months of straight contraction, IIP data for August will be released later today. No one expects too high a recovery for August, but low base of previous year could give it a bit of push.

In July, the industrial output expanded at a four-month high of 2.6%, driven by sharp rise in capital goods output. Capital goods boosted the IIP to the extent of 1.6%.

At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was up 178 points at 20,452 and the Nifty added 54 points at 6,074. Earlier in the day, the Sensex had touched a high of 20560 and the Nifty was at a high of 6,107.

In the broader markets, the midcap index gained 0.6% and the smallcap index advanced 0.5%, both marginally underperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 0.9%.

Meanwhile, the Rupee has given up most of its early gains with the Indian currency trading at Rs 61.32 compared with previous close of Rs 61.36 per dollar. In the morning deals, Rupee had strengthened as the markets hoped for Indian bonds to be part of one of the global indices soon. The move will attract more dollar flows into the country.

On the sectoral front, Consumer Durables, Power, Health Care, FMCG and Metal indices slipped 0.4-1%.

However, Realty, IT, Bankex, Capital Goods, Auto indices were up 1-3%.

PSU and Oil & Gas indices too were up 0.2% each.

The top gainers from the Sensex pack were ICICI Bank and Infosys which gained 4% each. Infosys is up after the IT major revised its FY14 revenue guidance to 9-10% from 6-10% in dollar terms.

L&T, Maruti Suzuki, Gail India, SBI, Wipro, Tata Motors, TCS, ONGC, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra up 1-3% were the other prominent gainers.

Among the top losers were Tata Power, Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite and Coal India down 2% each.

NTPC, Sun Pharma, ITC, BHEL, Tata Steel,Bajaj Auto and Cipla too were in the red, having lost between 0.2-1.5%

The market breadth was positive. 1,182 stocks advanced while 984 stocks declined on the BSE.

In Asia, stocks jumped to three-week highs on Friday as investors took a chance and cheered perceived progress in Washington to avert a possible debt default, even though questions remained over whether a deal could be struck in the next week.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.2%, reaching highs not seen since September 19. Tokyo's Nikkei climbed 1.2%.