Firm trades constituted the noon session, and thebourses consolidated gains, with the Sensex at 19,477 up 214 points and the Nifty at 5,848 up 62 points.
The broader indices continued to trade up 1% each, with the Mid-cap index at 7,188 and the Small-cap index at 8,802.
Top gainers on the Sensex were Jaiprakash Associates at Rs 96 up 5%, Hindustan Unilever at Rs 281 up 3% and HDFC at Rs 706 up 2%. Significant losers on the benchmark were Hindalco Industries at Rs 206 and Sterlite Industries at Rs 173 both down 1%, while Tata Power slipped 0.4% to Rs 1,311.
The Capital Goods counter at 13,812 and the auto counter at 9,339 were up nearly 2% each. The IT index continued to trade firm at 6,627 up 1.3%.
With 1,775 advances versus 910 declines, the market breadth was very positive.
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(Updated at 11140 hrs)
Auto, Capital goods and IT stocks propped up the markets further in the late morning session, thereby extending gains, after a weak opening this morning. The Sensex, after having touched the day's high of 19,505 in the late morning session, was quoting at 19,475 up 212 points, while the Nifty scaled 5,845 up 59 points.
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With a keen eye on the earnings season, ready to kick-off on Friday with Infosys declaring its Q4FY11, the markets lodged smart gains after opening at the day's lows. However, analysts expect operating margins of companies to be lower in the fourth quarter on account of rising input and commodity prices, which have been simmering due to an unabated rise in oil prices since civil tensions broke out at Libya.
Jaiprakash Associates at Rs 96 gained 5% to top the Sensex chart, while FMCG conglomerate Hindustan Unilever at Rs 280 and Hero Honda at Rs 1,674 advanced 2% each. Amongst the top losers, Sterlite Industries at Rs 172 and Jindal Steel at Rs 674 shed 1% each, and Hindalco Industries slipped 0.4% to Rs 207.
The broader markets gained momentum as the day progressed, as the Mid-cap and Small-cap indices, which were flat in the morning trades, were up 1% each, at 7,189 and 8,804 respectively.
Auto stocks picked up speed, and the index was up nearly 2% at 9,348 as investors bought shares of Apollo Tyres at Rs 67 up 3%, Hero Honda at Rs 1,675 and Tata Motors at Rs 1,245 both up 2%. Automakers recently announced an increase in vehicle prices because of rising input costs. Robust monthly auto sales figures added to the rally in the auto sector stocks.
In the capital goods segment (the index was up 1.5% at 13,792), Siemens led the gainers chart up 3% at Rs 863, followed by Gammon India at Rs 124 up 2.5% and BGR Energy at Rs 538 up 2%. Heavy engineering major Larsen & Toubro, up almost 2% at Rs 1,693, added 20 points to the benchmark value.
Technology stocks Financial Technologies at rs 891, TCS at Rs 1,204 and Oracle Financial Services at Rs 2,079, all up 2%, were the top gainers on the IT counter, which was up 1.4% at 6,638. TCS added 19 points, while Infosys, at Rs 3,280 up 1.3%, contributed 24 points to the total gains on the Sensex.