Sensex gains over 50 points; Midcap index up 1%

Benchmark indices are trading marginally positive led by metal and capital goods shares. However, the upside is capped because of selling in financials and IT shares.

At 10:45, the Sensex was higher by 71 points at 27,305 mark and the Nifty gained by 21 points at 7,256 levels.

On the global front, Asian shares inched up to a one-year high on Thursday while global bond prices surged, pushing their yields to multi-month lows, supported by expectations of easier monetary policy from the European Central Bank.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.15 percent, led by gains in Hong Kong and Singapore shares and hitting one-year highs for the fifth time in the last six sessions.

Japan's Nikkei share average erased much of earlier losses to stand flat.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 522.90 crore on Thursday, 29 May 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Among corporate news, NMDC, L&T, and Mahindra & Mahindra will announce Q4 results today.

The rupee is stronger at 58.9600/58.9650 versus its previous close of 59.03/04, as dollar inflows from YES Bank's share sale for as much as $500 million aided the Indian unit's gains.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty index has zoomed by nearly 4% followed by counters like Capital Goods, Metal Power, Oil & Gas, FMCG and Healthcare, all gaining between 1-2%. However, BSE IT and Bankex indices have declined between 0.3-0.5%.

The main gainers on the Sensex are ONGC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and HUL.

ONGC has gained more than a percent at Rs 379 on the BSE after its net profit surged 44.3% to Rs 4889 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2014.

On the losing side, Tata Motors, Wipro, SBI, Axis Bank and TCS have declined between 1-2%.

Among other shares, Shares of Network 18 jumped 6% to Rs 47.90 after Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) plans to acquire a majority stake in Raghav Bahl’s Network18 Media and Investments and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast through Independent Media Trust (IMT), of which RIL is a sole beneficiary.

Private sector lender YES Bank has gained by 3.5% at Rs 569. The company is set to raise $500 million by issuing fresh shares to a cluster of investors. This will lead to dilution of 10-12 per cent in promoter shareholding.

Shares of Crompton Greaves were up over 3% at Rs 184 after the company's profit rose 2.5 times to Rs 63.82 crore in fourth quarter as against Rs 25.27 core profit in same period last year due to improvement in power systems business and rise in other income.

Shares of Voltas gained nearly 4% to Rs 186.6 after the operating profits for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 was significantly higher by 58% at Rs 123 crores as compared to Rs 78 crores for the corresponding period previous year.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained between 1-1.2%.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,420 shares advancing and 758 shares declining.