Markets remain positive, TCS top gainer

Key share indices are trading in a positive territory led by buying demand among Technology, Banking and Oil & Gas shares.

By 1255 hrs, the Sensex was up 68 points at 18,750 and the Nifty gained 15 points to 5,699. The Sensex and the Nifty reached an intra-day high of 18,797 levels and 5,716 mark, respectively.

On the global front, Asian shares are trading flat as lackluster earnings from leading US companies and a sharp drop in Japan's exports, a key driver of the world's third-biggest economy, dented risk appetites and prompted investors to take profits on recent gains.

Back home, the rupee rises to 53.60/61 from its previous close of 53.84/85 on the back of dollar sales, which traders attribute to flows from Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd's $500 million dollar bond sale last week.

On the sectoral front, BSE IT, TECk, Healthcare and Bankex indices have gained by nearly 1% each. However, BSE FMCG and Consumer Durable indices have declined by almost 1% each.

TCS is the top Sensex gainer, up nearly 3% after reporting a better-than-expected 49% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 3,434 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012 driven by growth across geographies and businesses. Infosys has gained marginally.

Banking shares like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have gained between 1-2% on expectation that RBI will cut interest rates at its policy review on October 30 to support the economy.

Bajaj Auto has gained over 1% after beating estimates with a 2% rise in net profit to 7.41 billion rupees in July-September.

Other prominent gainers include NTPC, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Cipla and Tata Power.

On the losing side, ITC is the top Sensex loser, down nearly 2%. Jindal Steel, Sterlite, Tata Motors, SBI, Hero Moto and HDFC are other notable losers.

Among other shares, Somany Ceramics was locked in 20% upper circuit at Rs 84.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on back of heavy volumes on 12:20pm on Monday.

Mastek Limited has locked in 5% lower circuit at Rs 125.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange for second day in a row after reporting 71% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 6.49 crore for the first quarter ended September 2012 due to higher staff cost.

The broader markets are under performing the benchmark indices. The market breadth in BSE remains flat.