Markets remain firm, Tata Motors top gainer

Benchmark Indices continue to remain firm led by buying demand among auto and banking shares. Firm Asian markets have also supported the upmove.

At 1030 hrs, the Sensex was up 100 points at 19,881 and the Nifty gained 28 points to 6,027.

On the global front, Asian shares edged higher on Monday, buoyed by US data which maintained expectations for a mild recovery and continued loose Federal Reserve monetary policy to support it, bolstered by solid manufacturing data from Europe and China. Nikkei, Strait Times, Hang Seng, Taiwan and Shanghai Composite have gained by nearly 1% each.

Back home, the rupee breached the key 53-level by gaining 26 paise to trade at fresh three-and-a-half-month high of 52.93 in early trade today against the dollar on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters amid continued capital inflows.

BSE Realty index has zoomed by almost 2% followed by counters like Auto, Consumer Durable, Banks, TECk and IT, all gaining by nearly 1% each. However, defensive segments like FMCG and Healthcare are trading marginally in red.

Auto stocks have firmed up after the announcement January sales data. Tata Motors is the top Sensex gainer, up 3%. The company reported that its total sales of commercial and passenger vehicles in January 2013 were 61,660 vehicles. Bajaj Auto has gained by over 1% after the company said its total sales rose 3% to 3.47 lakh units in January 2013 over January 2012.

Financial and banking shares like ICICI Bank, HDFC and HDFC bank have gained between 1-2%.

Metal shares like Hindalco, JSPL and Tata Steel have risen by 1% each.

Index heavyweight RIL has surged by nearly 1%. The stock raised $800 million last week via perpetual bonds carrying interest rate of 5.875%.

On the losing side, Cipla, BHEL, DRL, Tata Power and HUL have declined between 1-2%.

Among other shares, IFCI has rallied 6% to Rs 36.40 on back of heavy volumes on reports that the government plans to dilute its sake in the country’s oldest financial institution, through a strategic sale.

OnMobile Global has surged over 6% to Rs 43.40 after reporting a 16% year-on-year (yoy) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 20.64 crore in December 2012 quarter (Q3) against Rs 17.80 crore in a year ago quarter.

Indian Bank has dipped 4.4% to Rs 194 in otherwise firm market after reporting 37% year-on-year (yoy)drop in net profit at Rs 331 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q2) due to higher provisioning for bad loans.

The market breadth in BSE remains upbeat with 1,242 shares advancing and 710 shares declining.