Sensex gains 300 points; Bank Nifty up 2%

Financials, L&T and ITC among the top gainers

Markets extended gains in morning trades with buying visible across all the sectors in today's trade. At 1030hrs, the Sensex was up 297 points at 25,396 and the Nifty advanced 87 points to trade at 7,595.

29 of 30 stocks are in green on the Sensex with TCS being the only exception, marginally down 0.06%

Shares of oil and gas companies are trading higher by up to 3% as Brent crude prices steadied near US $113/barrel. BPCL, HPCL, IOC and ONGC were up 2-3%.

The rupee is trading at 60.02/03 versus its Friday's close of 60.0850/0950, as the dollar makes losses versus most other Asian currencies.

The rupee is seen holding in a 59.80 to 60.30 range during the session. Demand for the greenback from oil refiners looking to meet month-end demand is expected to limit any sharp downward pressure on the USD/INR pair.
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(Updated at 1030 hrs)
Markets started the week on a strong note with the Sensex and Nifty up 0.5% each in opening trades. The early gains were lead by financials and ITC.

At 0930hrs, the Sensex was up 227 points at 25,326 and the Nifty gained 61 points to trade at 7,570.

In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap indices added 0.6% each, almost in line with the Sensex.

Sectors & Stocks

On the sectoral front, Bankex, Capital Goods and Consumer Durables indices up 1% each were the top sectoral gainers.

Realty and Power indices up 0.9% each were the other major sectoral movers.

SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins and ONGC up nearly2 % each were the top gainers among Sensex-30.

Tata Power, Wipro, L&T, Sun Pharma, Gail India, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel, Cipla and ITC up 1% each were the other notable movers.

TCS down 0.5% was the only name in red.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,228 stocks advanced while 384 stocks declined.

Global Markets

Asian share markets edged cautiously higher on Monday while the dollar stayed under pressure ahead of packed week of economic data that will test investor hopes for a pick up in the U.S., and global, economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was steady in morning trade. It gained 0.9% last week to be just under multi-month highs, aided by the prospect that interest rates in the major economies will remain near zero for many months to come.

The Tokyo market rose 0.35%, while South Korea added 0.55%.

Meanwhile, in US markets, stocks ended modestly higher on Friday, led by technology shares, though downbeat second-quarter and full-year forecasts from DuPont kept a lid on gains.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended the week with slight losses, while the Nasdaq scored a gain.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.03%, to end at 16,852. The S&P 500 gained 0.19%, to 1,961. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.43%, to 4,398.