Sensex surges 100 points; BHEL gains

Markets extended gains in the afternoon session this Friday with benchmark index Nifty comfortably above 5,400 mark on back of buying witnessed in oil & gas and capital goods shares.

At 1:10PM, 30-share Sensex was up 104 points to trade at 18,426 and the 50-share Nifty rose 24 points at 5,431 levels.

The broader markets gained with mid-caps and small-caps rising 0.5-0.7 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,127 stocks traded, 1,148 stocks advanced while 843 stocks declined on the BSE.


RUPEE

The rupee strengthened marginally amid lacklustre trade in the afternoon. There is dollar demand from importers, however, according to currency dealers it is not "that significant" in early trade today.

At 1pm, the rupee was quoting at Rs 64.58 compared with previous close of Rs 64.63. It had even strengthened to a level of 64.30 per dollar.


GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose, paring the benchmark equity gauge’s biggest weekly decline in two months, after reports from Europe to the U.S. boosted confidence in the economic recovery and the yen weakened against the dollar.

Japan’s Nikkei was up 2% to 13,651, Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.06% to 3,091, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5%  at 2,057 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 21,842 today.

European stocks fell, extending the biggest weekly drop in two months, before reports on euro-area consumer confidence and American home sales. Asian shares gained and U.S. index futures fluctuated.

European markets also opened lower. France’s CAC declined 0.7% to 4,031, Germany’s DAX shed 0.3% to 8,373 while UK’s FTSE was down 0.2% to 6,433.


STOCK MOVERS

Domestically, the key sectoral indices such as consumer durable, capital goods, auto, bankex, and oil & gas gained while metal, FMCG, technology index lead fall on the BSE.

The gainers included bank shares such as BHEL rising 5%, Jindal Steel gained 2.5%, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra rose 2-2.5% while Tata Power added 2% on the BSE.

The laggards were Bharti Airtel declining 3%, Hindalco Industries shed 2%, Sterlite Industries shed 1.7%, NTPC was down 1.3%  on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Hexaware Technologies that has soared 5% to Rs 125 in noon deals on BSE, on reports that Baring Private Equity Partners Asia will buy out a controlling stake in the company for for about Rs 2,600 crore ($400 million).

Tech Mahindra has moved higher by 4% to Rs 1,319, extending its previous day’s 3% gain, after the information technology firm said overseas investor bought additional stake in the company through open market purchase.