Sensex up over 300 points; Tata Group shares lead

Gains in Bharti Airtel capped downside losses while Maruti Suzuki rebounded after correction last week

Markets extended gains in late trades, amid firm European cues, with Tata Group shares leading the gains.

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At 3pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 348 points at 25,022 and the Nifty50 was up 114 points at 7,669.

Among the Tata Group shares, TCS and Tata were 2.3%-4% each.

Infosys was up 1% ahead of its fourth quarter earnings on Friday, April 15.

Other Sensex gainers include, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel.
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(updated at 1:40pm)
Markets have turned choppy in the noon trdaes amid fall in the European equities after the 10-year German Bund yield has dropped to a new 12-month low of 0.077%. Meanwhile, fresh buying is witnessed in the midcap and smallcap space as investors purchase the beaten down stocks at attractive valuations.

At 13:40 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex is up 131 points to quote at 24,805 and the Nifty50 is up 46 points to trade at 7,601.

Market will remain closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti and Ram Navami, respectively.

Lupin, M&M, HDFC, Cipla and Dr Reddy’s Lab have slipped 1%-2%.

Benchmark shares indices remained rangebound with negative bias in noon trades on Monday amid lack of buying interest while traders remained cautious ahead of key economic data tomorrow.

At 12:10pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 65 points at 24,609 and the Nifty50 was down 14 points at 7,541. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.4% each. Market breadth was strong with 1221 gainers and 941 losers on the BSE.

The rupee trimmed some of the early gains and was trading marginally higher at 66.43 to the US dollar compared to the pervious close of 66.47. Earlier, the rupee had gained amid sales of the US currency by exporters and banks.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities worth Rs 180 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The government will release data for Consumer Price Inflation for March and Index of Industrial Production for February on Tuesday, April 12.

Bharti Airtel was up nearly 4% as the company will now emerge as a pan-India 4G operator after it entered into an agreement with Aircel to acquire its 2,300-MHz spectrum band in eight circles for Rs 3,500 crore.

Sun Pharma was up nearly 1% after the company said it has received US Food and Drug Administration approval for an ophthalmic solution, used for preventing pain and treating inflammation in eye, after cataract surgery.

Maruti Suzuki was up 0.8% on renewed buying interest post the recent correction amid an appreciating yen.

Among other Sensex gainers, Adani Ports, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries were up 0.5%-2.7% each.

Infosys eased 0.5% after Aberdeen Asset Management Asia reduced its stake in the company by selling 5.626 million shares via open market.

Other Sensex losers include, HDFC Bank, ITC, Lupin and HDFC among others.

Among other shares, Rajesh Exports gained nearly 5% after the company announced it has bagged an export order worth Rs 1,188 crore of designer range of gold and diamond studded jewellery and medallions from UAE. The order is to be completed by 30th June 2016.

Cairn India were up 2% at Rs 152 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after reports suggested that the company has full indemnity from its former promoter UK-based Cairn Energy against any retrospective tax demand.