Nifty above 6,200 as IT scrips gain

IT heavyweights like TCS, Infosys and Wipro and ITC among the movers in noon deals

Markets recovered from day lows in noon deals as gains in IT heavyweights and ITC pushed the BSE benchmark indices into the positive territory.  Earlier in the hour, the benchmark indices were swinging on the either side of the dotted lines within a very narrow range.

At 1430 hrs, the Sensex as up 47 points at 20,858 and the Nifty gained 16 points to trade at 6,202.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index was flat with a negative bias while the midcap index outperformed with a 0.2% gain.

Rupee

The rupee is at 61.98/99 versus its close of 62.07/08 on Monday, tracking gains in other Asian currencies versus the dollar. Traders will continue to monitor foreign fund flows for direction.

The pair is expected to hold in a 61.80 to 62.20 range during the session with importers expected to step in to buy dollars below the 62 mark.


Sectors & Stocks

Among sectoral indices, Metal index down 1.4% was the top loser followed by Power, Realty and Banking index losing 0.2-0.5%.

Meanwhile, Consumer Durables index gained nearly 3% and was the top gainer along with IT, Teck, Health Care and Auto indices gaining 0.2-0.8%.

Bajaj Auto, Wipro, BHEL and Bharti Airtel up 2% each were the top gainers among Sensex-30.

Cipla, Infosys, Axis Bank, ITC, TCS, Hindalco and HDFC up 0.5-1.9% were the other notable gainers.

On the other hand, Sesa Sterlite, Coal India, Tata Power lost 2% each.

Gail India, Tata Steel, NTPC and Dr Reddys Lab down 0.6-1.6% were the other major losers.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1318 stocks declined while 1198 stocks advanced.

Global Markets

Asian share markets regained some altitude on Tuesday courtesy of a tailwind from Wall Street which sped to historic highs amid more mergers buzz, while gold consolidated its recent rally.

The upbeat mood among investors in the United States and Europe at least helped steady markets in China after talk of credit tightening knocked property shares.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.5%, while Seoul gained 0.7%. Australia's market briefly hit its highest since mid-2008 on a run of solid earnings reports.

Japan's Nikkei bolted ahead by 1.4% to breach the 15,000 barrier, which in turn gave the U.S. dollar a slight lift on the yen.