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Benchmark indices continue to maintain the upbeat trend amid firm Asian cues, along with consistent buying among
At 11:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 156 points at 20,315 and the 50-share Nifty was up 50 points at 6,082.
According to Kunal Bothra, Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, “Markets are showing good strength at these levels. I think an expiry above 6,100 is very likely looking at the current scenario for the markets. We are advising traders to hold on to their long positions with a trailing stop loss at 5980 on Nifty spot levels.”
On the global front, Asian stocks rose to six-week highs on Tuesday, led by a rally in Chinese shares, while gold took a breather after its biggest one-day gain in more than a year.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 1.3% to their highest since early June, and Tokyo's Nikkei erased early losses to be up 1%.
Among the best performers, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 2.1% and the CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listings jumped 2%.
Sentiment in China was boosted by separate media reports that the government would use railway projects to help cut gluts in steel, cement and other construction materials, and that Beijing would not permit economic growth to sink below 7%.
Back home, the futures and options expiry for July contracts this Thursday coupled with central bank’s monetary policy review next week is likely to weigh on the sentiments.
Surrendering some of its early gains, the rupee today rose by eight paise to 59.64 on dollar selling by banks and exporters on weakness of the US currency overseas.
On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durable index has zoomed by almost 4% followed by counters like Banks, Realty, Metal, IT, Oil & Gas, PSU, FMCG and Power, all gaining between 1-1.5%.
Shares of gems and jewellery companies are in demand in noon deals, erasing their entire early morning losses and trading higher by up to 17% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) streamlined its gold import policy.
Titan Industries, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ), Rajesh Exports, PC Jewellers and Shree Ganesh Jewellery House (India) are trading higher in the range of 3-17% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses.
Gold prices hit one-month high and reclaimed the Rs 27,000 per 10-gram level at the bullion market here today on higher offtake by stockists and investors coupled with firm buying triggered by bullish global trend.
Financial shares were also among the top Sensex gainers with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI up 1-2% each.
Software majors too are witnessing renewed buying interest on the back of encouraging results for the first quarter. Infosys and TCS are up 1-1.3% each.
Index heavyweight and FMCG major ITC has gained by over 1%. The company will announce Q1 results on Thursday, 25 July 2013.
Other notable gainers are Dr Reddy’s Lab, Sterlite, BHEL, JSPL, Tata Steel and RIL.
On the losing side, Sun Pharma, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors have declined between 0.4-1%.
Among other shares, Manappuram Finance is locked in upper circuit for fourth consecutive day, up 5% at Rs 14.19 on BSE after Baring Private Equity Partners India (Baring PE India) increased its holdings in the company to 11.56% through open market purchases.
The market breadth in BSE remains marginally positive with 984 shares advancing and 811 shares declining.
