Nifty holds 8,800; HDFC, Infosys up 2%

Markets continued to trade firm in late morning trades helped by a rebound in select index heavyweights ahead of the expiry of February derivative contracts on Thursday.

At 11:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 224 points at 29,228 and the Nifty has gained 65 points at 8,828 mark.

Global rating agency Moody's today said fiscal policies and structural reforms will determine India's sovereign credit profile, and not recent revisions to the economic growth data.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the cash market to the tune of Rs 697 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.  They also remained net buyers in futures and options segment to the tune of Rs.815 crore

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, taking their cues from Wall Street's gains after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested the Fed would not rush into raising interest rates.

Activity in China's mammoth factory sector edged up to a four-month high in February but export orders shrank at their fastest rate in 20 months, a private survey showed, painting a murky outlook that argues for more policy support.

The flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) inched up to 50.1 in February, a whisker above the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from a contraction on a monthly basis.

However, Japanese shares witnessed profit taking after recent gains and were down 0.2%. Shanghai Composite was up 0.2%, Straits Times gained 0.4%, Hang Seng was up 0.3%.

All sectoral indices on the BSE continue to remain in the green. BSE Oil & Gas index continues to lead the sectoral indices up over 1% followed by Auto, Bankex and Realty indices among others.

Infosys was up 2%. According to reports, India’s second-largest information technology services firm Infosys would soon invest in a start-up that develops cloud-based air quality detectors.

Financials were also among the top gainers with mortgage lender HDFC up 2% on expectations that the upcoming Budget would announce benefits for low-cost housing.

Reliance Industries was up 1% on short covering at lower levels after the stock witnessed profit taking in the previous few sessions.

ONGC was down 1.5%. The government has suspended a director in the country’s biggest oil public sector unit, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), over alleged irregularities.

Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has started the process to scrap bauxite mining joint venture (JV) projects with Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite after the state government said the state-run miner can take a decision to do so. Hindalco was up 0.6% and Sesa Sterlite was up 1.3%.

Tata Motors, which had two years earlier objected to the creation of quadricycles as a new vehicle category, citing low safety standards, now seems to be toeing a very different line. The automaker, India’s largest by revenues, is quietly developing under ‘project Bravo’ its own quadricycle with a new petrol engine, Business Standard has learnt. The stock gained 1.3%.

Among other shares, SpiceJet has rallied 5% to Rs 25.25 on BSE on back of heavy volumes after a media reports suggests that the budget carrier has cleared all tax dues.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.4% each.

Market breadth was strong with 1,294 gainers and 1,094 losers on the BSE.