Nifty above 6,300; Hindalco up 3%

Gains in RIL, HDFC, ICICI Bank, TCS and Infosys aid the index upmove

Markets continued to gain in the morning deals with the Nifty crossing the 6,300 level as buying in heavyweights helped the indices edge higher.

At 1100 hrs, the Sensex was up 204 points at 21,237 and the Nifty gained 60 points to trade at 6,302.  Gains in RIL, HDFC, ICICI Bank, TCS and Infosys alone contributed 100 points to the gains in Sensex.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index gained 0.7% and the midcap index added 0.4%, both underperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up nearly 1%.

The rupee was trading marginally weak in morning trades due to dollar buying by importers. At 1100 hrs,  the rupee was trading at Rs 61.58 compared with previous close of Rs 61.52 per dollar.

Currency dealers are expecting the Wholesale Price Index inflation data to provide further direction to the rupee.

All the sectoral indices were in the green with FMCG being the only laggard which was flat with a positive bias.

Metal index up 1.6% along with Capital Goods, IT and Bankex indices up 0.9% each were the top sectoral gainers.

Health Care, Auto, Oil & Gas and Power indices gained 0.7-0.9%

Axis Bank down 0.7% and ITC down 0.1% were the only losers among the Sensex-30.

Metal names like Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel up 1-3% were the top gainers.

Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Gail India, Bajaj Auto, RIL, L&T, Sun Pharma, SBI, TCS and Tata Motors up 1-2.5% were the other prominent gainers.

The market breadth was very positive. 1,321 stocks advanced while 787 stocks advanced on the BSE.