 "Markets continue to trade firm; Tata Motors up 4%, ICICI Bank down 2%")
Benchmark shares indices were up over 1% in noon trades on Thursday led by auto major Tata Motors on the back of robust JLR sales.
At 1:05pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 332 points at 24,575 and the Nifty50 was up 94 points at 7,463.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index was trading flat while Smallcap index was up nearly 1%.
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Market breadth was positive with 1433 gainers and 923 losers on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,438 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
SECTORS & STOCKS
All sectoral indices were trading in the green led by Metal and Capital Goods indices.
L&T extended gains and was up over 4% after the company recently announced that its construction division has won orders worth Rs 2,213 crore.
Infosys was up 1.5% after the company in a release said that Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK), a leading retail bank in Kuwait, has selected Finacle to drive its technology transformation.
TCS was up 2.5% after the IT major said that as a new member of the GE Digital Alliance Program, it would develop digital solutions that would increase the productivity of mobile workforces and assets in motion by leveraging Predix, GE’s cloud platform for industrial internet.
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(updated at 11:35am)
Markets continue to maintain the uptrend led by buying demand in capital goods and metal shares amid strong global cues.
At 11:35 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was higher by 216 points at 24,459 and the Nifty50 gained 60 points to begin at 7,430.
On Wednesday, indices climbed nearly 2% on Wednesday with the Sensex posting its best two-day gain in nearly seven years as strong global cues and RBI's announcement on capital adequacy norms lifted sentiment.
On the currency front, the rupee hardened for the third straight day as it appreciated another 18 paise to trade at a 7-week high of 67.36 against the dollar on sustained bouts of selling of the US currency by banks and exporters amid foreign capital inflows.
The crude oil prices continue to rise with US crude and Brent edging up 9 cents each to $34.75 a barrel and $37.02/ barrel respectively.
Asian shares advanced on Thursday on upbeat US jobs data and strength in global commodity prices.
KEY STOCKS
Shares of Tata Motors have rallied nearly 5% to Rs 332 on the BSE after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a strong 25% jump in US sales at 7,929 units in February 2016 against 6,327 units a year earlier.
Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) has rallied nearly 8% to Rs 301 on the BSE ahead of the board meet on March 5, 2016 for the proposed rights issue.
Tata Steel received final environment clearance for its Rs 1,877 crore expansion project to be performed at Jamshedpur Steel Works in Jharkhand. The stock has gained over 2.5%.
HDFC is up around 2% after the company decided to raise Rs 2,000 crore via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to fund business needs.
Banking and financial shares are trading flat on account of profit booking after witnessing strong rally in last two trading session on the back of rate cut hopes.
Hero MotoCorp has extended gains after the company clocked a double digit growth in two-wheeler sales in the month of February 2016.
Dr Reddy's Lab is seeking approval from its shareholders for a share buyback for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs. 1,569.42 crore. Shares of Dr Reddy's Lab has surged almost 3%.
The notable gainers on the Sensex are BHEL, L&T, Adani ports, up between 2.5%-6% each.
Among prominent losers are ICICI Bank, SBI, Lupin, and Maruti Suzuki down between 0.2% and 1.5% each in a strong market.
Among other shares, Dr. Lal PathLabs has soared 11% to Rs 947, its highest level since listing on the bourses in December last year.The diagnostic chain operator Dr Lal PathLabs had raised Rs 632 crore by issuing shares at price of Rs 550 per share via initial public offer (IPO).
