Sensex holds 22,500 mark; ITC & HDFC Bank down 2%

Benchmark indices have trimmed early gains and are trading marginally higher led by capital goods, IT and auto shares.

At 13:06 PM, the Sensex was higher by 65 points at 22,512 mark and the Nifty surged by 14 points at 6,736 levels.  

Adds Devangshu Datta, Technical Analyst and market expert, “Market may range trade 6740-6800 today. Underlying trend is bullish,. Stop loss shorts at 6785 and stop loss long positions at 6700. (All futures prices).”

Asian share markets added to their recent rally on Wednesday as investors chose to accentuate the positive in a mixed bag of global economic data, pressuring the safe haven yen to a 10-week trough.

Even sluggishness in China is now considered favorably since it adds to the case for stimulus, and there are signs Beijing is hastening infrastructure spending in response.

Trading was cautious, however, ahead of Thursday's meeting of the European Central Bank and Friday's U.S. jobs numbers, both of which could move markets in major ways.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 385.66 crore on Tuesday, 1 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The rupee is trading at 59.70/71 versus Friday's close of 59.91/92 as bunched-up dollar inflows and record high domestic shares aid sentiment. The unit rose to as high as 59.60, its strongest since July 30.

On the sectoral front, BSE Healthcare index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like IT, TECk, Consumer Durables, Auto, Oil & Gas, Power and Capital Goods, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE FMCG and Metal indices have slumped between 1-2%.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Cipla, Wipro, RIL, ICICI Bnak, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors.

PSU OMCs edged higher as the under-recovery on High Speed Diesel (HSD) and PDS Kerosene and Domestic LPG applicable declined. Lower crude oil prices and higher rupee also aided gains in shares PSU OMCs. BPCL (up 0.91%), HPCL (up 0.82%) and Indian Oil Corporation (up 0.79%) gained.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose to hit 52-week high after the company on Tuesday.

On the losing side, ITC, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite and Axis Bank have fallen between 1-2%.

Axis Bank is trading lower by 1.3% at Rs 1,449 on the NSE after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted foreign institutional investors (FIIs) from buying additional shares in the bank as their shareholding has reached the limit.

Among other shares, Wockhardt has surged nearly 16% to Rs 533, its sharpest intra-day gain since September 2013, on back of heavy volumes on the BSE.

SKS Microfinance has soared 13% to Rs 245, extending its 9% rally in past three trading sessions on the BSE, after the company said it has completed the thirteenth securitization transaction during the financial year 2013-14 (FY14) of Rs 159.80 crore

Aurobindo Pharma has moved higher by 3% to Rs 550, also its new high on the BSE, after the company said it has completed the acquisition of certain commercial operations of Actavis plc in Western Europe.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained by nearly 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,588 shares advancing and 874 shares declining.