Sensex up over 100 points; ICICI, RIL up 2%

No surprises in the Railway Budget as Kharge's announcements were majorly on expected lines

Markets gained in noon trades with the Sensex up 110 points at 20,473 and the Nifty gained 30 points to trade at 6,093 ahead of key macro economic data.

Meanwhile, the railway ministry Mallikarjun Kharge presented the interim railway budget after the Lok Sabha was adjourned until afternoon. There were no surprises as Kharge’s announcements were majorly on expected lines.

Among major announcements that Kharge made was the inclusion of the north-eastern states of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh on the railway map by FY 2015, which until now enjoy very low connectivity. The rail minister also announced the completion of the 11.2-kilometre-long banihal -qazigund rail link in Jammu & Kashmir, terming it as "landmark project".

In the broader markets, the small and midcap indices added 0.3% each, underperforming the Sensex which was up 0.5%.

Rupee

The rupee rose to 62.13 versus its close of 62.22 on Tuesday on bunched-up dollar inflows. Gains in global risk assets hurt the dollar.

State-run banks were on a two-day strike starting Monday, leading to more dollar flows hitting the market on Wednesday.

Traders however see strong support around 62.05 levels holding the USD/INR pair in a 62.05 to 62.40 range during the day.

Sectors and Stocks

Metal index down 1.2% and FMCG index down 0.5% were the only indices in the red.

On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Bankex and Capital Goods indices gained 1% each.

ICICI Bank, Gail India, ONGC, Reliance Industries and BHEL which gained 1.5-2% were the top gainers among Sensex-30.

Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Dr Reddys Lab, Maruti Suzuki and ITC down 1-3% were the major losers.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1252 stocks advanced while 1094 stocks declined.

Global Markets

Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, as upbeat trade data from China and an optimistic economic outlook from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen whetted investors' appetite for risk.

Investors took heart from the strong performance on Wall Street and lifted MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan about 0.8%.

Chinese exports handily beat expectations in January, rising 10.6% from a year earlier, while imports jumped 10%, leaving the country with a trade surplus of $31.9 billion for the month.

European markets started on a strong note with CAC, DAX and FTSE gaining 0.6-2%.