Sensex reclaims 25,000; Rupee at fresh two-year lows

The recovery in the markets was led by IT major Infosys and private banking majors

Benchmark share indices pared early losses to trade in positive terrain as gains in IT major Infosys and private banks helped offset losses in auto stocks.

At 10:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 66 points at 25,110 and the Nifty50 was up 26 points at 7,636.

The broader markets also turned positive with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 0.2%-0.4% each.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1,137 gainers and 797 losers.

The Indian rupee was trading at 67 after hitting over two-year lows of 67.06 against the US dollar on the back of demand for the US currency from importers and banks.

Meanwhile, industrial output rebounded to a five- year high in October. Industrial output grew by 9.8 per cent in October on the support of robust demand for manufactured products in the festival month compared to just 3.6 per cent in September.

Infosys was up nearly 1% contributing the most to the Sensex gains along with private banking majors ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

Sun Pharma was up 1.4% on value buying at lower after the sharp correction in the stock in the previous sessions.

In the Sensex pack, auto stocks were among the top losers after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday has ordered immediate ban on registration of diesel-run cars in the national capital. The order further states that there won’t be any renewal of registration of vehicles that are older than 10 years in Delhi. Tata Motors and M&M were down 2%-2.9% each.

However, Maruti was up nearly 1% on reports that the company would hike prices from January and plans to export 20,000-30,000 cars to Japan

TCS was down 1% after the company announced that the recent flood in Chennai led to major disruptions in its ability to function. The normal business functioning of company's facilities had to be halted in the city all week since December 1 due to flooding. This is expected to have a material impact on the company's revenues in the seasonally weak Q3 December 2015, it added.

Among the Sensex gainers, Sun Pharma, Lupin and HUL were up 0.4%-1.4% each.

Among others, Shares of Pune-based Kalyani Forge have surged by almost 5% to Rs 277 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the company plans to double turnover to Rs 500 crore in the next 2-3 years by entering a new product range and expansion.

Shares of sugar companies have surged by up to 5% on the bourses after the government plans to increase the cess on sugar by almost Rs 100 per quintal to fund its ambitious programme of paying Rs 4.50 per quintal directly into the bank accounts of growers. Simbhaoli Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Shree Renuka Sugars, Balrampur Chini Mills and Dhampur Sugar Mills and EID Parry have gained between 2-5%.