Markets trading near day's highs, Sensex up 100 pts

Gains are led by index heavyweights with FMCG major ITC contributing the most to the Sensex

Benchmark share indices were trading near their day's highs in noon trades on Wednesday with index heavyweights gaining the most led by FMCG major ITC. Meanwhile, traders are keenly watching the roll-overs ahead of the expiry of February derivative contracts today.

At 1:05PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 103 points at 20,956 after touching an intra-day high of 20,962 and the 50-share Nifty was up 28 points at 6,228 after hitting an intra-day high of 6,229.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were trading with marginal gains.

Market breadth was nearly neutral with 1,199 losers and 1,183 gainers on the BSE.

The rupee was trading marginally lower at 61.94 to the US dollar compared with previous close of 61.93.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Nikkei and Straits Times were down over 0.5% each. Japan's Nikkei retreated from its one-month highs to end down 0.5% at 14,971 as investors booked profits after discouraging US economic data. However, shares in Hong Kong and China were up 0.4-0.7% each.

BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE up 1.1% followed by FMCG, COnsumer Durables, Oil and Gas among others. Metal index was the top loser down 1.7% amid weak data from China.

Among the index heavyweights, ITC, L&T, Reliance Ind and Infosys were up 0.3-1.6% each.

PSU banking major SBI was up over 1% after the country’s largest public sector lender said that its board schedule to meet next week to consider interim dividend to shareholders of the company.

Gail India was the top Sensex gainer up nearly 3%.

Tata Power was down 1.4% on profit booking after recent gains. The company said that the Mundra UMPP will get about 47 paise per unit more following electricity regulator CERC allowing higher tariffs to mitigate the company's higher cost of imported fuel.

Meanwhile, metal shares continued to remain under pressure hitting a four-month low today amid concerns of slowdown in China. Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite were down 2.6%.

Maruti Suzuki was down 0.6% after domestic institutional investor Life Insurance Corporation of India, has sought details of the company's proposed Gujarat unit.