Nifty above 8,750 led by financials & IT; Sensex above 29,000

Markets have extended gains on account of strong buying among financials, IT and auto shares.

By 10:23, the Sensex was higher by 152 points at 29,040 mark whereas the Nifty has gained 38 points at 8,762.

Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.5-0.6%. Markets breadth in BSE is positive with 1,271 shares advancing and 787 shares declining.

The top gainers on the Sensex are Axis Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro, SBI and Tata Motors.


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Updated at 10:13

Markets have extended gains led by sustained buying among banks, FMCG and IT shares.

By 10:13, the Sensex was higher by 135 points at 29,014 mark whereas the Nifty has gained 39 points at 8,759.

Among global peers, Asian stocks and the euro handed back gains and slipped on Thursday after the European Central Bank took a hard line stance on Greece's debt and dampened optimism towards a resolution to the saga.

Risk appetite, which had warmed earlier in the week on hopes that Greece would gain relief from its creditors, took a hit after the ECB pulled back its soft treatment of Greek debt and cancelled its acceptance of the country's bonds in return for funding.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1% after climbing 1% the previous day. Japan's Nikkei, which surged 2% on Wednesday, dropped 0.5%. South Korean and Australian stocks were also lower.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 83.80 crore yesterday, 4 February 2015, as per provisional data.

Investors will keenly watch out for the quarterly results of Tata Motors, IOB, IRB Infra, Allahabad Bank, JSW Energy, Hindustan Copper and Financial Tech.

Sectors like Banks, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas and Healthcare are trading marginally lower. However, BSE IT index is up 0.5%.

HDFC Bank has surged 2% after the bank launched its programme to raise Rs 10,000 crore through a combination of share sales to qualified institutional investors and the issue of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) on Wednesday.

IT majors like TCS, Wipro and Infosys have gained between 0.4-1%. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp's fourth-quarter revenue rose more than expected and the IT services provider forecast a pick up in annual revenue growth as healthcare and financial services clients in North America boost spending.

Software major Infosys Ltd Wednesday appointed Roopa Kudva, chief executive of global analytical firm Crisil, as an independent member of its board of directors.

Other notable gainers are Coal India, Axis Bank, BHEL, HUL and Sun Pharma.

On the losing side, Tata Power has slipped over 1%. Private power producer Tata Power today swung into a profit of Rs 198 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014 on account of higher revenue from its electricity generation business and forex gains.

However, Tata Power witnessed a drop in revenue from its coal business at Rs 2,104.21 crore as against Rs 2,567.55 crore in the year-ago period.

A surge in mobile data revenues helped Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telecom service provider, to more than double its consolidated net profit to Rs 1,436 crore in the financial year's third quarter ended December 2014. The stock has slipped 0.4%.

Among other shares, Aurobindo Pharma has slipped by nearly 3% after the company's consolidated net profit declined 7.93% to Rs 384.35 crore on 49.34% growth in total income to Rs 3202.08 crore in Q3 December 2014 over Q3 December 2013. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 4 February 2015.