Nifty holds on to 6,300 as IT, banks gain

Auto majors like Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp buck trend; down 0.5-1%

Markets extended gains as buying in IT and banking names helped the benchmark indices edge higher in early noon deals. At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was up 127 points at 21,201 and the Nifty stayed firm above the 6,300 levels with a 36 point gain at 6,314.

However, broader markets gave off some of its morning gains with both the mid and smallcap indices gaining 0.3% as compared to the 0.6% gain seen on the BSE benchmark index.

The rupee came off the morning lows and was quoting at 62.01 versus its previous close of 62.16/17 as month-end dollar demand from oil importers continues to weighs.

Stronger Asian currencies and a fall in the non-deliverable forwards market is likely to keep a downward pressure on the USD/INR pair.

On the sectoral front, except Oil & Gas index, all the sectoral indices were in the positive territory with IT and Teck indices gaining over 1% each.

Realty, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Health Care and Bankex indices were up 0.5-1%.

Auto majors like Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were down 0.5-1%.

Reliance Industries, ONGC slipped 0.6% and 0.1% respectively.

BHEL and HDFC Bank down 1.3% and 0.1% rounded off the losers list.

Among the gainers were IT front liners TCS, Infosys and Wipro up 1-2%.

Hindustan Unilever, HDFC, Sesa Sterlite, Cipla, SBI, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank up 1-1.3% were the other prominent gainers.

In individual names, UPL was up 2% at Rs 193 ahead of its board meeting on Monday to consider the share buyback proposal.

Swaraj Engines soared 11% to Rs 667, also its record high on the BSE, on back of heavy volumes on the bourses.

Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) gained 3% at Rs 458 after its board asked promoter Financial Technologies India (FTIL) to reduce its stake to 2%, in accordance with the regulator's order.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1251 stocks advanced while 974 stocks declined.

Meanwhile, most Asian share markets notched up gains after another powerful performance by Wall Street, while Japanese economic data impressed and the dollar briefly broke the 105 yen barrier for the first time in five years.

Shanghai made the running with a rise of 0.8% as money rates eased and China set its yuan at an historic high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan managed to add 0.25%.

Japan's Nikkei stock average eked out a slight gain on Friday, logging its highest close in six years. The broader Topix index gained 0.8% to 1,290.