Sensex hovers around 29,300; Hero MotoCorp down 4%

Markets continued to trade firm in late morning trades on Wednesday led by select financials while FMCG shares extended gains amid easing inflation.

At 11:25AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 168 points at 29,304 and the 50-share Nifty was trading 41 points higher at 8,851.

The Indian rupee was trading lower at 62.27 per dollar compared to the previous close of 62.16.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 183 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

BSE Capital Goods and Consumer Durables indices were the top gainers up 1.3% each followed by Power, FMCG, Auto and Healthcare indices.

In the financial segment mortgage lender HDFC was the top Sensex gainer up 3% on renewed buying interest. Among private banking majors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were up 0.1-1.3% each.

Mahindra & Mahindra has gained 2.4% after the company decided to upgrade the side curtain airbag software on all the XUV500 vehicles manufactured on or before July 2014.

NTPC firmed up further and was up 2.4% after the company decided to invest approximately Rs 60,000 crore for executing green energy projects in the next five years as part of government's plans to provide thrust to clean electricity generation.

ITC was up 1.1% after the company acquired Savlon and Shower To Shower brands for India from Johnson & Johnson as part of its ambitious goal to become the country's largest FMCG company by 2030. HUL gained 1.2%.

Hero MotoCorp was down 4.5% on reports that the promoters of the country’s biggest maker of motorcycles and scooters is planning to sell part of their holding through open market today.

Tata Motors was down 0.7%. The company reported a marginal increase in global sales, including Jaguar Land Rover, at 80,499 units in January.

Other prominent losers include Bharti Airtel, TCS, Sesa Sterlite, Bajaj Auto and Wipro among others.

Among other shares, Jyoti Structures gained nearly 8.5% to Rs 35 after it received orders worth Rs 582 crore for transmission line projects.

Pipavav Defence surged 20% to Rs 82.80, also its fresh 52-week high on the BSE, on the back of heavy volumes.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.7% and Small-cap index was up 1%.

Market breadth remained strong with 1,494 gainers and 943 losers on the BSE.