Sensex hovers around 21,000; Bankex up 4%

Markets come off their day's highs as investors booked profits after sharp gains in ealry trades

Markets came off their day's highs in noon trades on Thursday as investors booked profits at higher levels after stocks surged in early trades as exit polls in the assembly elections indicated that Bharatiya Janata Party was leading.

At 1PM, the BSE Sensex was up 287 points at 20,996 and the 50-share Nifty was up 91 points at 6,252.

The rupee jumped to a five-week high against the dollar as exit polls predicted a strong showing for the key opposition party, the BJP, in recent state elections. The rupee rose to as high as 61.67 against the dollar compared with yesterday's close of Rs 62.36.

In Asia, key stock indices were trading lower ahead of the US jobs data due on Friday while Japanese shares ended lower as investors turned cautious and booked profits after sharp gains recently. Nikkei ended down 1.5% at 15,177. Among others in the region, Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite and Straits Times were down 0.1-1.%.

The BSE Bankex was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up over 4% followed by capital goods, realty, power, oil and gas, metal and auto indices all up 1-3.2% each. Defensive sectors witnessed profit taking with FMCG, IT and Healthcare indices among the top losers.

In the financials space, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC and SBI were up 2-6.4% each. Among other stocks which contributed the most to the Sensex gains include, Reliance, L&T, Maruti Suzuki and ONGC.

Bharti Airtel was up over 1% after the company said that its wholly-owned subsidiary - Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V. - has priced euro 750 million 4% Guaranteed Senior Notes due 2018.

Among other shares, Strides Arcolab has tanked over 12% to Rs 864 after the pharmaceutical company said it has completed sale of its Agila Specialties Division to Mylan Inc. for a total consideration of up to $1.75 billion.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were trading up 0.5% each.

Market breadth was positive with 1,227 gainers and 959 losers on the BSE.