Sensex up over 250 pts; ITC, ICICI Bank, Infosys gain

M&M, Wipro and NTPC buck trend, down 0.4-0.6%

Markets extended gains with the benchmark indices gaining 1.4% each on the back of renewed interest from the domestic institutional investors who have been net sellers thus far. This is ahead of the second quarter GDP and fiscal deficit for Apr-Oct which is likely to be announced after market hours.

At 1410 hrs, the Sensex was up 260 points at 20,795 and the Nifty gained 84 points to trade at 6,175. The ones leading the gains were ITC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC, SBI and TCS.

Meanwhile, broader markets which have been outperformers over the past few sessions, lagged marginally in today's trade. The mid and smallcap indices were up 0.9% each as compared to the 1.4% uptick seen on the BSE benchmark index.

Rupee

The rupee pared most of its morning gains. At 1430 hrs, the rupee was trading at Rs 62.53 compared with previous close of Rs 62.41 per dollar.

According to currency dealers, rupee may face pressure due to dollar demand by importers for month-end requirements.

Asian Markets

Japanese stocks faltered slightly on Friday after hitting their highest closing level in nearly six years in the previous session, but still reveled in the sliding yen to record their best November performance since 2005.

Investors nibbled at other regional equities, however, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific outside Japan  index edging up 0.2% after reaching its highest close in a week on Thursday.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei dropped 0.4%, though it was still up 9.3% this month as the yen slumped against the euro and dollar.

European markets opened firm after rating agency Standard & Poor's raised its outlook on Spain to stable from negative and affirmed its BBB-minus rating. CAC and DAX were flat with a positive bias while FTSE was up 0.2%.

Sectors and Stocks

The BSE Bankex was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE, up 2.2% followed by PSU, Metal, Capital Goods, Realty, Power, FMCG, IT and Oil and Gas indices up over 1% each.

Health Care, Consumer Durables and Auto indices added 0.3-0.9%.

The only losers among the Sensex-30 were Mahindra & Mahindra down 0.6% along with Wipro and NTPC down 0.4% each.

Sesa Sterlite, BHEL, Cipla and SBI up 3-45 were the top gainers in noon deals.

ICICI Bank, Gail india, ITC, Tata Power, ONGC, Dr Reddys Lab, L&T, HDFC, HDFC Bank, TCS and Jindal Steel up 1-2.7% were the other prominent gainers.

In individual stocks, PI Industries has surged 5% to Rs 243, extending its three-month long rally on the bourses.

SRF was locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 207 on back of heavy volumes on the bourses. The stock opened at Rs 171 and has seen over multiple-fold jump in trading volumes.

BF Utilities, Atul Auto, Career Point, IFGL Refractories, Shalimar Paints and Transformers and Rectifiers are trading lower in the range of 1-5% after the stock exchanges shifted them to trade-to-trade segment as part of a surveillance review to safeguard the interests of investors in the capital market.

The market breadth was very positive on account of broad based buying. 1,367 stocks advanced while 1,014 stocks declined on the BSE.