Markets strong in noon trades

The markets are going from strength to strength in late-noon trades as the lower GDP growth in March seems to have eased fears of a hawkish policy stance by the Reserve Bank at its policy meet scheduled next month and the positive cues from the global markets front seem to have only bolstered the buoyant sentiment. The Sensex is at 18467, higher by 235 points and the Nifty is at 5550, up 77 points. Not to be outdone, the midcap index is at 6880, higher by 92 points and the smallcap index is at 8223, up 68 points. All the BSE sectoral indices are in the green, with the rate-sensitive realty and banking hogging the limelight.

The GDP growth slowed down to 7.8% in March, lower than the anticipated 8.3%. The manufacturing sector grew 5.5% in January-March from a year earlier, while farm output rose by an annual 7.5%, the data showed.

And on the global market front, the Hang Seng, Nikkei and seoul indices have gained in the region of 2 % each, while the FTSE, CAC and DAX are up in the region of about a percent each.

On the stock-specific front, Reliance Infra has surged by 3.1% at Rs 572 to top the gainers list on the BSE and DLF has jumped by 2.9% at Rs 237. The banking space has seen the likes of HDFC Bank soaring by 2.3% at Rs 2362, SBI has gained 1.6% at Rs 2273 and HDFC adding 1.6% at Rs 680. And the high-beta metal space is also doing well, with Jindal Steel gaining 2.7% at Rs 653 and Sterlite adding 2% at Rs 171.

On the other hand, Cipla has weakened by 0.6% at Rs 327 to be the sole loser on the BSE. 

The market breadth is strong; Out of 2749 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1672 advancing stocks as against 960 declines.