Markets trading near one-month highs, L&T up 3%

Financial and capital goods shares along with select power stocks contributed most of the gains

Markets firmed up in late noon trades to trade near their one-month highs with financial and capital goods shares along with select power stocks contributing to most of the gains.

At 2:35PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 86 points at 20,786 and the 50-share Nifty was up 22 points at 6,178.

The rupee was trading higher at Rs 62.06 against the US dollar compared to its previous close of Rs 62.12. Gains in equities also Ahelped improve sentiment.

Asian shares were trading lower on Monday. The Nikkei ended lower amid a volatile trading session on the back of a stronger yen and profit booking at higher levels after the benchmark share index touched its highest level in three weeks during intra-day trade. The Nikkei finally ended down 0.2% at 14,838. Shares in Hong Kong and mainlaind China fell sharply with property stocks losing the most amid talk that raised concerns banks have halted extending credit to real estate firms. Shanghai COmposite was down 1.8%, Hang Seng lost 0.8% and Straits Times was trading flat.

European shares were trading weak in early trades after discouraging outlook for 2014 by German auto major Volkswagen and tracking weakness in China's stocks. Germany's DAX was down 0.4%, FTSE slipped 0.2% while CAC-40 was trading flat with positive bias.

BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2.6% followed by Healthcare, Auto, Bankex, Oil and Gas indices. Power index was the top loser down 1.5% along with IT and Metals.

L&T is trading higher by 3% at Rs 1,082 after the company said it has received Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval for foreign direct investment (FDI) in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited (L&T IDPL). BHEL is up 2.5%.

Other shares which contributed the most to Sensex gains include, Axis Bank, HDFC, ITC, ICICI Bank and M&M up 0.6-3.6% each.

Tata Power was up 5% while Adani Power was up 1% after electricity regulator CERC has allowed higher tariff as well as compensation of Rs 329.45 crore for Tata Power's 4,000 MW Mundra project to compensate for increase in the price of imported coal, while it has granted nearly Rs 830 crore compensation for Adani Power’s 4,620 MW Mundra plant in Gujarat, the PTI report suggest.

NTPC was the top Sensex loser down 11% after the recent norms released by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission is seen negative for the state-owned power producter

IT majors TCS and Infosys were among the top Sensex losers amid profit taking after recent gains.

Among the individual stocks, SKF India has surged 6% to Rs 692 after reporting a robust 50% year-on-year growth in net profit at Rs 48.39 crore for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q4) on back of strong operational performance and lower raw material cost. EBITDA or operating margin improved to 11.62% from 8.6%.