Nifty below 8,700; Coal India up 3%, HDFC dips 1%

Markets came off their early highs but continued to trade firm led by index heavyweights Infosys, Reliance Industries and ITC.

At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 67 points at 28,584 and the 50-share Nifty was up 27 points at 8,687.

"The Nifty needs to hold above 8620 zone to continue this up move towards 8720 zones. While if it fails to hold 8575 levels then momentum may fizzle out and bears may drag it to 8500 levels. Traders need to trade cautiously ahead of the fourth quarterly corporate result session," Anand Rathi Securities said in a technical note.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 144 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The Indian rupee was trading lower at 62.31 compared to the previous close of 62.26 to the US dollar.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets extended gains with Japanese shares inching towards fresh 15-year highs on hopes of additional stimulus measures from major economies in the region such as China and Japan. Japan's benchmark Nikkei was up 0.4% while Shanghai Composite came off its early highs and was trading flat. However, Hong Kong markets resumed trading after the Easter holidays and the benchmark Hang Seng was trading at fresh seven year highs. The benchmark Hang Seng was up 2.4% while Straits Times was trading flat with negative bias.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the green. BSE Consumer Durables, IT and FMCG indices were the top gainers up over 1% each followed by Realty, Oil and Gas, Metal and Auto indices.

Among the index heavyweights renewed buying was seen in Reliance Industries and ITC up 0.7-1.9% each.

In the IT pack, both Infosys and TCS were up over 1% each.

Private banking majors came off their early highs after some of them cut lending rates. HDFC Bank lowered its lending rate by 0.15% to 9.85% effective from April 13. SBI was up 0.7% after it announced a reduction in its lending rate by 15 basis points to 9.85% effective from 10th April. HDFC Bank was up 0.6% while ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were trading with marginal gains.

Coal India was up over 3% after the coal ministry allowed the company to revert to the old system, removing the cap on e-auction volumes with effect from April 2015.

Auto shares firmed on hopes that reduction in interest rates on auto loans would drive sales growth. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki were up 1-1.7% each while Bajaj Auto was up 0.8%.

Among other shares, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rallied 4% after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) permitted the company to increase the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) investment limit from 35.07% to 49%.

Videocon Industries was up over 1%. India's direct-to-home service provider Videocon d2h made its debut on Nasdaq on Tuesday.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.7% and the Small-cap index was up 1.4%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,462 gainers and 533 losers on the BSE.