Nifty hovers around 8,130 aided by gains in IT, pharma

Weakness in L&T, HUL, Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp caps upside for the benchmark index

Markets continue to remain choppy in early noon deals, even as the benchmark indices recovered from day lows. The gains were aided by IT and pharma names. At 1250 hrs, the Sensex was up 40 points at 27,151 and the Nifty gained 19 points to trade at 8,134.

Buying continued in the broader markets as the smallcap index gained 0.6% and the midcap index added 0.3% as compared to the 0.1% uptick seen on the BSE benchmark index.

The rupee was trading at 60.75 as compared to Thursday's close of 60.83/84. The currency was driven by hopes of continued foreign fund buying in shares and bonds.

Sectors & Stocks

Among sectoral indices, Capital Goods and realty indices down a percent each were the top losers. Power, Oil & Gas, Metal, FMCG, Bankex and Auto were some of the other weak pockets.

Meanwhile, IT index gained over 2% on hopes that they were better placed to weather any Fed-related volatility. IT heavyweights like TCS, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro added 1-3%.

Health Care index up 1% was the other notable gainer supported by the gains in Sun Pharma, Cipla and Biocon all up 2% each.

Shares of Tata Group companies were trading higher by up to 9% after global rating agency Moody's has upgraded the ratings for many group firms including Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy Services.

Tayo Rools, Tata Teleservices, Tata Sponge, Tata Investment Corporation and Tata Elxsi gained 3-10%.

However, profit booking in L&T, HUL, Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp, GAIL and BHEL dragged the scrips lower by 1-2%.

The market breadth was marginally negative on BSE. 1,413 stocks declined while 1,396 stocks advanced.

Global Markets

Following US market gains, the Asian markets had a strong session today after the Scottish independence vote indicated Scotland would remain in the United Kingdom. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added about 0.2% but the Asian index was still on track for a weekly loss of about 1.4%.

Japan's Nikkei stock average ended up 1.6% at a seven-year closing high, giving it a 2.3% gain for the week. Shares got a tailwind from a weaker currency as the dollar pushed to a new six-year high of 109.46 yen.

The Nikkei also got a lift after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he aims to carry out as soon as possible reform of the country's $1.2 trillion public fund, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), in a reshuffle seen as good for equities.

The cheer spread to European bourses with all the major indices opening with gains of atleast 0.5%.