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Markets extended gains on value buying and short covering at lower levels with financials leading the gains after the sharp correction in the previous sessions.
At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 249 points at 25,703 and the 50-share Nifty was up 84 points at 7,801.
The broader markets also firmed up on bargain hunting in fundamentally sound mid-cap and small-cap indices. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 1% each. National Stock Exchange's Bank Nifty was up 1.5%. Market breadth improved further with 1,397 gainers and 370 losers on the BSE.
The Indian rupee was trading lower at 66.23 compared to the previous close because of foreign fund outflows and appreciation in the US currency overseas.
Foreign instiutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,573 crore, as per provisional stock exchange data.
MONSOON
India's June-September monsoon rains are likely to be below the prior forecast of 88 percent of the long-term average, the weather office chief said, which could make it the driest year since 2009 and reduce farm output.
GLOBAL MARKET
With Chinese markets closed over the weekend other stocks in the region continued to trade firm. Shares in Japan edged higher with the benchmark Nikkei up 1.4% while Singapore's Straits Times was up 1.4%. Stock exchanges in China and Hong Kong were closed for trading today.
Major US stock indices rebounded on Wednesday after losses in the previous three sessions. The Dow Jones ended up 1.8%, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 gained 1.8% and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite close 2.5% higher.
SECTORS & STOCKS
All sectoral indices were trading in the green led by Realty which was up nearly 5%. Bankex, IT and Capital Goods indices were among the top gainers.
Financials rebounded on value buying after the sharp correction in the previous sessions. Mortage lender HDFC was up nearly 2% while private banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were up 1.3-2.1% each.
IT exporters trimmed early gains on profit taking. Infosys, TCS and Wipro gained 0.3-1.5% each.
Beaten down index heavyweights also staged a recovery in early trades with ITC and Reliance Industries up 0.9-1.2% each.
Auto stock also staged a recovery post August sales numbers. Tata Motors was up 3.9^% followed by Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp up 1.2-2% each.
Capital goods shares which had weakened post weak core sector growth also witnessed value buying at lower levels. State-owned BHEL was up 2% while engineering major L&T was up 1.5%.
Among other shares, Vascon Engineers gained nearly 2% after the company decided to raise Rs 200 crore via rights issue and sale of non-core assets to reduce its debt burden and meet working capital requirements.
Shares cement companies are in focus with frontline stocks such as Ambuja Cements, ACC, UltraTech Cement, Dalmia Bharat and JK Lakshmi Cement trading higher on the BSE. Prateek Kumar and Nishant Shah, analysts at Antique Stock Broking believe that negatives are largely priced in now and valuation downside is capped.
