Markets at day's high; Sensex up 180 points

Infosys, L&T, Tata Steel, SBI, Coal India among the top gainers

Markets extended gains in noon trades with the benchmark indices coming off the 50 points range trading seen since early noon deals.

At 1255 hrs, the 30-share Sensex was up 183 points at 25,664 and the 50-share Nifty was up 64 points at 7,666.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up nearly 0.6% and the Small-cap index was up 1%.

The Indian rupee continued to trade above Rs 61 at Rs 61.12 compared to the previous close of Rs 61.18 after the dollar weakened against most Asian currencies. Further, rebound in equities also aided sentiment.

Sectors & Stocks

The BSE IT index was the top sectoral gainer along with Consumer Durables, Auto, FMCG, Capital Goods, Oil and Gas, among others.

IT shares firmed up on the back of upbeat US economic data as they earn most of their revenues from exports to the US. Infosys was up nearly 4%, Wipro gained 2.1% and TCS was up with marginal gains.

Larsen & Toubro which had corrected last week post its June quarter earnings also witnessed buying at lower levels and were up 1%.

Auto shares rallied on the back of upbeat sales growth in the month of July. Tata Motors was up 1.2%, M&M gained 1.6% while Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto were up nearly 2% each.

Other Sensex gainers include ITC and ICICI Bank.

Among other shares, Sudarshan Chemical Industries zoomed 16% to Rs 975 after the company announced that the board will consider maiden bonus issue and stock split of face value of equity shares from Rs 10 to lower denominations.

Global Markets

Asian shares were trading mixed on concerns over geopolitical tensions and Argentina's debt default. The Nikkei ended down 0.3% while the Straits Times was lower by  0.8%  on profit taking after recent gains. Shares in China advanced with the benchmark Shanghai Composite up 1.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.3%.

European shares were trading with marginal gains in early trades but further gains are likely to be capped amid concerns over losses in Portugal's largest listed bank Banco Espirito Santo. The FTSE, CAC-40 was up 0.1-0.3% while DAX was down 0.4%.