Markets steady; Nifty holds 8,400 as rate-sensitives gain

Banks and auto stocks among the top gainers of the hour

Markets continue to trade firm with both the Sensex and Nifty hovering closing to its all-time highs hit in early trades today.  Gains in rate sensitive pockets like banks and auto aided the upmove on hopes of cooling retail inflation. The CPI inflation data is expected later in the day.

At 1125 hrs, the Sensex was up 200 points at 28,109 and the Nifty was up 47 points at 8,409.

Earlier in the day, the 30-share Sensex had hit an all-time high at 28,123 and the Nifty was at a peak of 8,415.

The broader markets were in line with the BSE benchmark index. The mid and smallcap indices added 0.7% each.

Sectors & Stocks

Among the sectoral indices on BSE, Auto and Banking indices gained over a percent each and were the leading gainers.

Capital Goods, FMCG, It and Realty indices up 0.4-0.7% were the other sectoral gainers.

However, selling was visible in metal and power pockets with the respective indices down 0.1% each.

From the auto pack, Baja Auto, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp were the major gainers up 1.5-3%. These scrips were also the top gainers of the Sensex-30.

Financials like HDFC, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI added 0.9-1.6% on hopes of a an earlier than expected RBI rate cut, on account of expected easing inflation.

BHEL which was among the top losers in yesterday’s trade, emerged as one of the top gainers in morning trades with gains of 1.8%.

Among the ones in red were Tata Steel, Tata Power, NTPC, Wipro, Coal India and HUL down 0.3-0.7%.

In individual names, Aurobindo Pharma gained around 4% to Rs 1,065 on BSE after its US subsidiary emerged as the highest bidder, with a bid of $132.5 million (approximately Rs 808 crore), for the acquisition of US-based nutritional supplement maker, Natrol Inc, and its other affiliate entities.

NCC gained 2% at Rs 57.55 on National Stock Exchange after high net worth individual investor, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, hiked his stake in the company.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1,549 stocks advanced while 1,038 stocks declined.