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Markets have closed firm for third consecutive trading session led by buying demand among capital goods and metal shares.
Provisionally, the Sensex closed higher by 76.29 points at 27,806.50 and the Nifty gained 27.95 points at 8,381.05.
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Updated at 2:30
Maintaining their momentum in late noon trades markets headed for eighth straight day of gains led by a rally in metal and capital goods stocks. However, the upside is capped by profit taking in the information technology shares.
Market participants are also positive about the good start to the monsoon session, thus raising hopes of easing in the monetary policy by the central bank. Further, efforts to resolve the the Greece debt crisis has also lifted sentiment in the Asian as well as European markets.
At 2:30 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 94 points at 27,824 and the 50-share Nifty was up 36 points at 8,389 after hitting an intra-day high of 8,398.45.
Among the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are in sync with their larger peers, up by 0.1% and 0.3% each. The health of the market is positive with 1,377advances against 1,183 declines on the BSE.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee continued to trade weak by 9 paise at 63.59 levels as the American currency firmed up against other overseas currencies.
Meanwhile, markets could turn volatile ahead of the expiry of June derivative contracts on Thursday.
SECTORS & STOCKS
Sectorally, BSE Metal index is rallying nearly 2%, followed by BSE Capital Goods index, up by 1.7%. BSE Oil&Gas, Bankex, and Healthcare indices are rallying between 0.3-1% each. BSE Information Technology, however, has dipped 0.8%.
Shares of Capital Goods sector have surged post better than estimated April industrial output data. Among the individual stocks, Thermax has gained nearly 6%, Crompton Greaves and Havells, up between 1.5-2.7% on the BSE.
L&T gained on media reports that it will list its IT services arm L&T Infotech by December this year. The stock is up nearly 2%.
Bharti Enterprises, along with Foxconn and Japan’s SoftBank will invest $20 billion in a project to set up solar power packs in India. Bharti Airtel is up 1.2% on the Sensex.
Banking shares were rallying on the back on the announcement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the government would infuse capital in public sector banks in the next three to six months. SBI, Axis Bank, and HDFC bank were up between 0.2- 0.8% each on the Sensex.
Tata Steel extended its gains from yesterday after the trade unions in UK decided to call off the strike against Tata Steel UK over pension issue. The stock is up 1.1%
Pharma sector has received financial and regulatory support from the government post which the stocks are rallying on the Sensex. Cipla is up by 2.3% while Dr. Reddy’s, and Sun Pharma are up by 0.5% each on the Sensex.
Lupin made its entry as one of the top 30 stocks on the Sensex yesterday, replacing Tata Power. The stock is down by 2%.
Other notable losers are Infosys and Hero Motocorp , both down by 1.9% on the Sensex.
