Sensex up over 350 pts, ITC leads

Markets continued to trade higher on US Fed plans to continue the stimulus measures and bold Plenum reforms unveiled by China.

Markets continued to trade firm in late noon trades on Monday led by FMCG major ITC and private banks on US Fed plans to continue the stimulus measures and bold Plenum reforms unveiled by China.

At 2:35PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 367 points at 20,766 and the 50-share Nifty was up 104 points 6,160.

The India rupee continued to strengthen on Monday due to dollar sale by banks. The bullish sentiments in equity market also helped the rupee. TheC Indian rupee was trading at Rs 62.53 to the US dollar against the previous close of 63.11.

Shares in Hong Kong and mainland China surged on Monday after bold economic reforms unveiled by China over the weekend. The Chinese government while relaxing its one-child policy with a view to boost urban population also said that it would further liberalise the financial sector. Hong Kong and Shanghai COmposite were up nearly 3% each while Nikkie ended flat with negative bias and Straits Times was trading 0.1% up.

However, European shares were trading marginally lower in early trades as investors turned cautious ahead of the speech by US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke late Tuesday and Wednesday.
The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.1-0.2% each.

All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in the green. The BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE, up 2.6% followed by Bankex, FMCG, Realty, Oil and Gas among others.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC up 2-3% each contributed the most to Sensex gains in late noon trades.

Bank shares firmed up ahead of the outcome of the RBI's Rs 8,000 crore bond purchase through open market operations today. SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were up 2-3% each.

Other Sensex gainers include, L&T, HDFC, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever and TCS.

Among other shares, Cox and Kings is trading higher by 2.7% at Rs 102, extending its Thursday’s nearly 8% rally, after reporting a 79% year-on-year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 264 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2), on back of strong performance recorded by education and camping division. The company engaged in travel support services had a profit of Rs 148 crore in a year ago quarter.

Mastek has dipped 6% to Rs 143 in otherwise firm market on BSE after the IT software products maker said the company’s revenue of the North American business may be impact due to a major customer is reprioritizing its multi-vendor transformation program.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 1% each.

Market breadth was positive with 1,360 gainers and 1,051 losers on the BSE.