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Markets edged higher in noon trades with the benchmark indices looking all set to snap its three day losing streak. In addition, strength in global markets and appreciating rupee boosted the sentiments of the market participants.
At 1430 hrs, the Sensex was up 440 points at 26,687 and the Nifty advanced 128 points to trade at 7,971.
The uptick in the broader markets was in line with teh large caps. The mid and smallcap indices were up over 1.7% each.
Sectors & Stocks
On the sectoral front, all sectoral indices, except IT index, were in green. BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer up 3% followed by BSE Bankex, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Metal, Realty and Power indicesup 1-2.5%.
In the metal pack, Hindalco was the top gainer, up 5%, as global rival Alcoa Inc's earnings beat forecasts, propelled by higher aluminium prices.
Hindalco expects similar earnings performance from its overseas subsidiary Novelis Inc, which is the world's largest producer of rolled aluminium products. Following the tandem, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel were up over 1% each.
Pharma shares witnessed some selling pressure following reports of US Congress prive probe also rebounded and were trading with gains. Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma are up between 1-1.5% .
Cipla climbed 1.3%% after the company said Medpro Pharma has entered into a tie up with Teva Pharmaceuticals affiliate to exclusively sell Teva products in South Africa. Medpro Pharma is a subsidiary company of Cipla Medpro.
Among the technology stocks, Infosys rebounded from Wednesday's nearly 5% drop following a downgrade by Citigroup. The stock was flat with a positive bias ahead of its second quarter earnings due tomorrow. TCS was also up 1% while Wipro and Tech Mahindra dropped 1-3%.
Financials shares have firmed up on the back of encouraging growth forecast from IMF. HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and SBI are up between 2.5-3%.
Shares of oil companies are gaining on the back of declining Brent crude prices. Reliance Industries gained 2% and ONGC was up over 1.5%.
Capital goods shares were among the top gainers. L&T extended its yesterday’s rally of 2.3% and was up 3% after the company said its wholly-owned subsidiary L&T Technology Services received approval from the Competition Commission of India to acquire the engineering business of US-based Dell Product and Process Innovation Services.
Meanwhile, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) jumped 8% to Rs 218 after state-run company said it has bagged EPC (engineering, procurement & construction) contract worth of Rs 7,800 crore for setting up a 1,320 MW thermal power project in Tamil Nadu.
On the flip side, NTPC, ITC and Dr Reddys were the only prominent losers on the BSE down between 0.1-1.3%.
The market breadth was very positive on BSE. 1,975 stocks advanced while 857 stocks declined.
Rupee
The rupee is trading at 61.09/10 versus Wednesday's close of 61.3950/4050 following dovish Fed comments. Almost all Asian currencies were trading stronger versus the dollar.
Global Markets
World stock markets roared their approval on Thursday of reassurances the U.S. Federal Reserve will not rush into raising interest rates, with risk appetite flooding back into almost every asset class.
Minutes of the Fed's Sept. 16-17 meeting published late on Wednesday showed officials were wary about the dual threats of a stronger dollar and recent wobbles in the world economy as they seek an eventual exit from record low rates.
There were big gains for Asia stocks and European shares duly followed suit as Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 rose 0.7, 1.2 and 0.8% respectively in early trading.
