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Market traded firm in noon trades on Thursday led by rate sensitive shares as lower-than-expected consumer price inflation for February raised hopes of a policy rate cut by the central bank. Meanwhile, selling pressure in index heavyweight Infosys capped further gains.
At 1PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 85 points at 21,941 and the 50-share Nifty was up 30 points at 6,547.
The Indian rupee firmed up after consumer price inflation data for February was better-than-expected. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 60.99 per dollar compared to its previous close of 61.22.
Asian shares were trading mixed. Nikkei extended losses after the sharp slide on Wednesday after exporter stocks witnessed profit taking while metal shares also edged lower over concerns in China. The benchmark Nikkei ended down 0.1%. China's industrial output grew 8.6% in Jan-Feb of 2014 from a year earlier, missing market expectations, with growth in retail sales also weaker than expected, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. Retail sales rose 11.8% in the first two months of 2014 compared to the year ago period, the government said. China's Shanghai Composite was up 1%, Hang Seng was down 0.7% and Straits Times was down 0.4%.
Oil and Gas index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2.4% followed by Bankex, Auto, Capital Goods among others. Meanwhile, IT index was the top loser down 2.8%.
In the banking pack, HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank up 1.3-2.2% each.
M&M, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp were among the top gainers in the auto pack up 1-2.5% each.
IT major Infosys witnessed selling pressure and was down 7.7% at Rs 3,387 on reports that IT major expects sluggish growth in January-March (Q4FY2014) quarter mainly due to muted spending by clients, especially in the retail sector. Infosys indicated that the company has continued to see weakness in client spending throughout the current quarter ending March 31, 2014 and the company may only be able to meet the lower end of its annual revenue growth guidance.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has dipped nearly 4% after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an import alert for all products manufactured at its plant at Karkhadi, Gujarat.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap index were up 0.7% each.
Market breadth was strong with 1395 gainers and 1122 losers on the BSE.
