 "Markets remain firm; Sun Pharma up 2%")
Benchmark indices continue to trade firm in the noon trades on fresh capital infusion in banks, capital goods and pharma shares amid optimism over the forthcoming Budget.
At 1 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 143 points at 28,499 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 50 points at 8,616.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors continued to remain sellers in Indian shares with net sale of Rs 1261.19 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.
The Indian rupee was quoting higher at 62.14 to the US dollar against the US dollar compared with its previous close of 62.20.
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On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods index is the top gainer up 1.7% followed by Healthcare, Power and Bankex up over 1.5%. However, BSE Auto index is the only sectoral index trading in the negative territory.
L&T is up 2.1%. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has selected two consortia from the dozen companies invited to bid in November 2013. One is a consortium between Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Tata Power, and the other between Rolta and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). BEL was up 2%, Tata Power gained 1% while Rolta was up 5.4%.
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In the financial segment, ICICI Bank has gained nearly 2%. The banking major has launched 'Pockets' a mobile application which can be used for various payments. Other gainers include, Axis Bank, HDFC and SBI among others.
Domestic passenger car sales increased 3.14 percent to 1,69,300 units in January 2015 as compared with 1,64,149 units in the year-ago month. Maruti Suzuki is up 1.5%.
Shares of Sun Pharma are trading higher by 1.4% after Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, a subsidiary of Sun Pharma, has reported a 28.7 percent growth in bottomline during October-December quarter at USD 142.5 million on yearly basis.
Coal India, HDFC, NTPC, TCS, Dr Reddy’s Lab are trading firm and are up between 1-2%.
On the flip side, BHEL, Cipla, ONGC, SBI and M&M are trading lower between 0.2-2.7% on caution ahead of the Q3 results due later during the week.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.7-1%. Market breadth is positive with 1,457 gainers and 1,031 losers on the BSE.