Nifty ends above 5,300
IT stocks among the top gainers
The markets ended today's trading session on a positive note. The Nifty ended above the crucial psychological levels of 5,300. The index provisionally closed at 5,330, up 48 points and the Sensex advanced 178 points to close at 17,591.
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(Updated at 1440 hours)
Markets continue to trade on a strong note in the late noon deals on the back of sustained buying visible in the IT stocks. The Sensex is up 200 points at 17,615 and the Nifty has advanced 59 points to 5,342 levels.
Meanwhile, the European markets are trading on a flat note. The CAC is up 15 points at 3,417, DAX is up 38 points at 6,957 and the FTSE 100 is trading marginally lower at 5,802.
The Asian markets ended marginally higher as investors maintained hope that Europe will take further action to tackle its debt crisis and the United States and China will adopt stimulus measures to boost growth. The Hang Seng advanced 74 points to close at 20,072, Nikkei jumped 77 points to 8,803 and the Shanghai closed marginally higher at 2,158 levels.
Back home, IT stocks are witnessing buying in trades today after Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp raised its adjusted full-year profit forecast at a time when its Indian peers have been painting a gloomy picture for the rest of the year on slowdown in global outsourcing spends.
The BSE IT index is the top sectoral gainer, up 2% at 5,454 levels. TCS, Infosys and Wipro are among the top gainers on the Sensex from this space. Other gainers from the Sensex pack include, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, L&T, Tata Steel and HUL.
On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp and Bharti Airtel are among the laggards from the heavyweight space.
All the sectoral indices ae trading higher. Auto, realty, bankex, metal, capital goods, FMCG, PSU and oil & gas indices are trading higher by 0.7-1.8% each.
Among the individual stocks, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has dipped 4% at Rs 306, its lowest level since December 2008, after reporting net loss of Rs 39 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, due to fall in operational income and higher operating cost. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 8.61 crore during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.
Engineers India is trading higher by 3% at Rs 245 after the state-owned company said that it has secured a project management consultancy contract from GSPL India Transco Limited (GITL), for Mallavaram-Bhopal- Bhilwara-Vijaipur Natural Gas Pipeline (MBBVPL) project.
The broader markets are also trading higher. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices have advanced 0.6% each.
The overall breadth is positive as 1499 stocks are advancing while 1,188 are declining.