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Markets have extended gains and are trading at day’s high amid media reports that Ukraine and Russia have signed a cease fire agreement.
At 14:00 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 192 points at 27,213 and the 50-share Nifty was up 55 points at 8,138.
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Updated 13:17
Markets have come off their early highs as profit taking in select names like ITC, ICICI Bank and ONGC weighed on the indices. At 1310 hrs, the Sensex was up 116 points at 27,136 and the Nifty was up 31 points to trade at 8,114.
Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed with the midcap index up 0.7% and the smallcap index up 0.5%, as compared to the 0.4% gain seen on the Sensex.
After a volley of encouraging economic indicators, the HSBC PMI data released today was a dampner. Indian services activity expanded at its weakest rate in three months in August as firms' order books filled up at a slower pace, a business survey showed on Wednesday.
The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, fell to 50.6 in August from 52.2 in July. A number above 50 denotes growth while anything below implies contraction.
Sectors & Stocks
Banking index, FMCG and Realty indices down 0.1-0.3% were the only sectoral indices in red.
IT index surged over 2% in noon trades supported by gains in TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Mindtree.
The other notable gainers among Sensex-30 were Bharti Airtel, Tata group stocks like Tata Motors and Tata Power, L&T and Axis Bank which gained 1-3%.
Among the ones in red were GAIL, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Hero MotoCorp and BHEL down 1-2%.
The market breadth was marginally positive on BSE. 1,452 stocks advanced while 1,344 stocks declined.
Global Markets
Upbeat Chinese services activity reports helped lift Asian shares on Wednesday, while the dollar was close to 14-month highs against a basket of major currencies after data underscored that the U.S. economy continues to gather gradual momentum.
Two surveys showed that activity in China's services sector rebounded in August, offsetting some of the recent weakness in manufacturing. Chinese stocks cheered the reports, with the Shanghai Composite Index and the Hang Seng Index rising 1% and 1.8% respectively.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.6%. It had opened lower after Wall Street marked a mixed day, though the upbeat U.S. economic data underpinned shares and limited losses.
Japan's Nikkei stock average ended up 0.4%, pushing up to fresh seven-month highs as it rode the weaker yen.
The market cheer was carried on to the European markets with all teh major indices in green. CAC, DAX and FTSE added 0.2-0.5%.
