Nifty breaches 5,700

Banks, real-estate lead gains on BSE

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty index breached 5,700 support levels and traded firm in late morning session on the back of overseas inflows after Moody's maintained stable outlook on India.

At 11:20AM, The Bombay  Stock Exchange's Sensex rose 241 points to 18,776, while National Stock Exchange's Nifty-50 index gained 69 points to 5,705 in the late morning trades. Indian financial markets will be shut on Wednesday for local holiday.

Moody's maintained Baa3 rating with stable outlook for India on optimism country's large, diverse economy and strong gross domestic product growth will support rating stance.

Meanwhile, investors were hopeful that the ongoing logjam during the Parliament winter session would be resolved with the government and opposition party arriving at a consensus on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail among other reforms.

Global risk appetite remained firm after Greece's international leaders on Monday agreed to lend 43.7 billion euros in stages to the debt-ridden nation. The December installment will comprise 23.8 billion for banks and 10.6 billion in budget assistance.

The Hang Seng rose 0.26% to 21,918, Straits Times rose 0.17% to 3,009, Nikkei rose 0.43% to 9,444 while Taiwan Weighted gained 0.17% to 7,419.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1% to 863.56 in Asian trades.

Back home, all the BSE sectors were in positive territory with real-estate, banks,metals sectors leading gains.

Among the key Sensex stocks, HDFC Bank and parent company Housing Development Finance Corp gained nearly 3% while Jindal Steel and Sterlite Industries rose 2% each on BSE.

The other notable stock movers include, private-sector lender, IndusInd Bank which is trading higher by 3% at Rs 397, also its record high on the BSE, after bank said that it has opened the issue for qualified institutional placement (QIP) on November 26..

Hindustan Copper has dipped almost 10% at Rs 153.45 in opening deals, falling below its average offer for sale (OFS) price of Rs 156.56 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Federal Bank declined 2% after L&T Finance Holdings Ltd sold 4.7% stake in the lender to raise about $65 million.

Oil and Natural Gas, the state-owned energy explorer, gained 1.46% after ConocoPhillips intends to sell its 8.4 percent interest in the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement, known as Kashagan, to India's ONGC Videsh Ltd.

Retail stocks traded mixed on uncertainty over consensus building between political parties at Parliament over FDI issue. Shoppers Stop, Pantaloon Retail gained nearly 1% while Koutons India fell 1% on BSE.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose1% each.

The overall breadth is strong as 1,518 stocks have advanced while 785 stocks declined on the BSE.