 "Consumer driven stocks gain on Cabinet nod for 7th pay commission")
Markets firmed up in noon trades with consumer-led stocks leading the gains on expectations of higher consumer spends after the Cabinet today approved the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
At 2:30pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 200 points at 26,725 and the Nifty50 was up 70 points at 8,198. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.8%-1% each.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities worth Rs 190 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
The rupee rose 24 paise to 67.71 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange today on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.
STOCKS
Consumer-led stocks were among the front runners in noon trades with mortgage lender HDFC among the top Sensex gainers followed by ICICI Bank and Asian Paints among others.
Auto shares were also up on hopes that demand for vehicles post the approval of the seventh pay commission. Tata Motors was up 1.3%, Hero MotoCorp gained 1.5%, Maruti Suzuki, M&M and Bajaj Auto was up 0.2%-0.5% each.
FMCG shares witnessed profit taking after gains in the previous sessions with ITC and Hindustan Unilever down over 0.5% each.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was up nearly 1% after the pharmaceutical major on Tuesday announced closure of its share buyback programme.
Realty shares were among the top sectoral gainers with DLF surged over 8% on reports that the promoters of real estate developer will pump Rs 10,000 crore by purchasing shares in a preferential issue.
Banking major SBI plans to divest its sell non-core investments of around Rs 3,000 crore to shore up its capital, according to media reports. The stock is marginally up.
Among other consumer driven stocks that gained include, PVR, Pidilite Industries and Muthoot Finance which have hit their respective lifetime highs on the Bombay Stock Exchange in intra-day trade today.
