Markets remain positive, financial shares gain

Benchmark indices remain positive led by buying among Capital Goods, Banking and Metal shares.

By 1250, Sensex was up 86 points at 18,523 and the 50-share Nifty was up 46 points at 5,588.

On the global front, Asian markets traded firm with China’s Shanghai Composite Index adding 0.6% to 2,225, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1% to 21,934, Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.6% to 3,304 while Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.02% to 13,202.

Back home, investor sentiments remained sluggish on account of fourth quarter earnings season, which begins with Infosys results on Friday will decide the market trend going ahead.   

Industrial production numbers, which is due on Friday, may also have some impact on the trading sentiment this week as IIP data is likely to be a key input for RBI's next policy review on May 3.

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Metal and Bankex indices have surged by nearly 2% each followed by counters like Auto, Realty, Power, PSU and Healthcare, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE IT index has declined by nearly 1%.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Jindal Steel, L&T, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, HDFC, TCS, Sterlite, NTPC, Hindalco and Cipla, all surmounting between 1-3%.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has moved higher by 2% to Rs 1,510 in noon deals after country's biggest software services provider said it will acquire France-based enterprise solutions provider Alti SA for 75 million Euro (about Rs 533 crore) in an all-cash deal.

On the losing side, Wipro has dipped over 11% after the stock of information technology (IT) consulting and software provider demerged its non-IT businesses.

Other notable losers include Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy’s, ONGC and HUL, all falling down by 1% each.

Among other shares, TVS Motor Company has dipped 10% to Rs 35.80 on profit booking after the stock surged 25% in past four-trading days on the BSE.

The market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 1,193 shares advancing and 821 shares declining.