Nifty set to end at 3-month high on RBI hopes

Markets continued to trade firm in late-afternoon tradewith 50-share Nifty set to end at its highest level since February 4 on back of significant buying witnessed in software makers and financial stocks.

Investors are now focussed on the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy tomorrow amid expectations the central bank may surprise by reducing both interest rates and cash reserve ratio by 25 basis points to boost growth.

At 2:30PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex was up 250 points at 19,754.78 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty rose 75 points at 6,005.

Global risk appetite was frail after weak set of economic data from US and China, the two biggest economies of the world.

Reports yesterday showed U.S. companies added fewer workers than forecast in April and the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to 50.7 in April from 51.3 in March.

Meanwhile, HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to 50.4 in April from March's 51.6 and was largely in line with a flash reading last week of 50.5.

Asian markets ended mixed with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 0.3% to 22,669.83, China’s Shanghai Composite shed 0.2% to 2,173, Singapore’s Straits Times added 1% to 3,402 while Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.7% to 13,694.

Meanwhile, European markets traded also traded mixed. France’s CAC declined 0.1% to 3,851, Germany’s DAX rose 0.1% to 7,924 and UK’s FTSE was down 0.08% to 6,446.

Back home, all the key sectoral indices gained with IT, realty, banks, capital goods topping the chart on the BSE.

The gainers on the Sensex included, TCS and Infosys rising 3.5% and 2% respectively , HDFC and SBI gained over 2% each, Larsen & Toubro rose 3% on the BSE.

The laggards included counters such as Tata Motors falling 0.4% and Hero MotoCorp down 1% respectively, Hindustan Unilever dropped 1.7%, Hindalco Industries shed nearly 1% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included,  Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has moved higher by 3% to Rs 1,555 after engineering giant said that its Malaysia based switchgear subsidiary, Tamco Switchgear, won $85 million (Rs 456 crore) order in Qatar.

Tata Motors dropped 0.5% after registering a 14.8% decline in total vehicle sold in the month of April 2013.

The broader markets gained with mid-caps and small-caps rising nearly 1% on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,325 stocks traded, 1,213 stocks gained compared to 993 declines on BSE.