Sensex rebounds above 20,000, heavyweights gain

Benchmark indices have recovered from day’s low and have turned flat led by recovery in rupee value against dollar and buying among index heavyweight shares.

At 11:30 AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 43 points at 20,026 and the 50-share Nifty was up 13 points at 5,941.

At 11:20 am, the rupee was trading at Rs 62.08 compared with previous close of Rs 61.80 per dollar.

Asian share prices sagged on Wednesday as the U.S. budget deadlock dragged on and further chipped away at investors' confidence that a deal will be reached before a mid-October deadline to avoid a debt default.

Back home, BSE Healthcare index has surged by nearly 2% followed by counters like Realty, Oil & gas and Capital Goods, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE Bankex has declined by0.4%.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, RIL, JSPL, HDFC Bank and L&T.

On the losing side, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, SBI, NTPC and Maruti Suzuki have dec;ined between 1-3%.

With the country in festive mood, shares of India's auto companies are adding up to the festivities. They have zoomed in the past one month, with some of the auto counters galloping by almost 50%.

In the passenger vehicle space, Tata Motors has been the clear winner as the stock has gained about 17% to reach up to Rs 350. Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car seller, is not far behind with its shares up about 13% during the period.

Mahindra & Mahindra, which had abruptly fell to below Rs 800 level, also regained its strength and is now trading 10% higher at around Rs 860 a share.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) will now be connected to major exchanges in Asia, UK and US, thanks to the extension of Tata Communications’ global financial trading connectivity network. In a filing to the exchanges, Tata Communication said that the extension of the low-latency network in Asia would help ensure fast, secure and scalable connectivity for latency sensitive trading.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,104 shares advancing and 788 shares declining