Nifty regains 6,300; L&T up 3%

Gains were led by bank shares on hopes that RBI would continue to maintain status-quo on key rates

After a minor correction in noon trades markets staged a recovery and the Nifty regained the 6,300 mark with bank shares leading the gains on hopes that easing Dec WPI raised hopes that the Reserve Bank of India may continue to keep key policy rates unchanged.

At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 229 points at 21,262 and the 50-share Nifty was up 70 points at 6,311.

The wholesale inflation declined to a five-month low in December on lower vegetable prices.
WPI-based inflation in December stood at 6.16% from 7.52% a month ago, data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed today. This is the first time since May that headline inflation has declined from the previous month. In November, the WPI inflation was at a 14-month high.

The Indian rupee appreciated against the US after December WPI eased to a 5-month low. The rupee was traded at 61.50 compared to its previous close of Rs 61.52 to the US dollar.

Asian shares firmed after a World Bank report said that the global economy is estimated to expand to 3.2% in 2014 compared with 2.4% in 2013 because of growth picking up in developing countries and large economies.

Shares in Japan firmed up after the yen eased against the US dollar. The benchmark index Nikkei was the top gainer in the region up 2.5%. Hang Seng and Straits Times were up 0.5% each while Shanghai COmposite was down 0.2%.

European shares firmed up on Wednesday following a World Bank report which forecasted growth in global economy in 2014. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were up 0.4-0.9% each.

All the 30-shares in the Sensex were trading in the green. Capital Goods index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE up 1.9% followed by Bankex, Metal and Auto shares.

Rate sensitive shares firmed up on hopes that the RBI would keep key policy rates on hold after December WPI eased to 5-month low. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC and SBI were up 1-2.4% each.

Among capital goods shares, Larsen & Toubro was up nearly 3% while BHEL gained 1%.

In the auto pack, Tata Motors, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto were up 1-2% each.

Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries was up 0.9% and ITC was up 0.5%.

IT majors firmed up ahead of Q3 earnings from TCS tomorrow. TCS was up 0.6%, Infosys edged up 0.5% and Wipro rose 0.7%.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.1% and the Small-cap index was up 0.3%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,300 gainers and 1,239 losers on the BSE.