Markets seen extending gains for sixth straight day

Markets were trading higher heading towards sixth straight day of gains

Benchmark share indices came off their fresh record highs in late deals on Tuesday and were trading with marginal gains as investors turned cautious and booked profits at higher levels.

At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 53 points at 26,445 after hitting a record high of 26,531 and the 50-share Nifty was trading 26 points higher at 7,901 after touching a fresh high of 7,919.

The Indian rupee firmed up against the US dollar on the back of dollar inflows after domestic stock markets surged to record highs. Forex markets were closed for trading on Friday and Monday for holidays. The Indian rupee is currently trading at Rs 60.68 compared to Thursday's close of Rs 60.76.

Asian markets firmed up on Tuesday tracking overnight gains in the US and easing of geopolitical tensions in Ukraine. Japanese shares edged higher amid upbeat US housing data while weakness in the yen also boosted sentiment and the benchmark Nikkei ended up 0.8%. Chinese shares recovered from the day's lows and the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.3% while Hang Seng gained 0.7%. Singapore's Straits Times ended up 0.2%.

European shares were also trading firm after geopolitical tensions in the Ukraine eased. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were up 0.4-0.9% each.

The BSE Auto and Capital Goods indices were the top sectoral gainers up 1.2-1.8% each followed by Power, Realty, Bankex, Oil and Gas indices.

Auto stocks gained on the back of encouraging sales growth in July. Auto sales in India rose for the second straight month, according to July sales data released by individual auto makers, suggesting that a recovery may have begun to take hold in the sector after a two-year slump. Analyst expects the upcoming festive season to set the pace of demand recovery especially in cars/two-wheelers, aided by pent up demand and macro recovery. Tata Motors was up 2.4%, M&M gained 3.2% while Maruti Udyog, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were up 1-2% each.
 
Sesa Sterlite was up 2.5% after the Goa government decided to follow the order of the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court to renew mining leases.Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, in the State Assembly on Monday, said that atleast 27 mining leases on which stamp duty has been paid would be renewed by October 15.

Capital goods shares also witnessed buying at lower levels. L&T was up 1.2% and BHEL gained 2.4%.

Other Sensex gainers include, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Axis Bank and SBI.

HDFC Group shares were among the top Sensex losers with HDFC down 2.2% and HDFC Bank eased 0.8%. Other Sensex losers include, TCS, Infosys and Hindustan Unilever.

Among other shares, Shares of JSW Steel were up 1.3% at Rs 1,293 after the company said it has entered into an agreement with Welspun Enterprise to acquire entire equity shares of Welspun Maxsteel for Rs 1,000 crore.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 1% each.

Market breadth continued to remain strong with 1,585 gainers and 1,243 losers on the BSE.