Sensex, Nifty up over 1%, index heavyweights lead the rally

Markets extended gains in noon deals with the benchmark indices at day highs, led by gains in realty, power and consumer durable companies.

At 1400 hrs, the Sensex was up 377 points at 25,409 and the Nifty advanced nearly 100 points to trade at 7,590.

The broader markets too surged with both the mid and smallcap indices gaining nearly 2% each, outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 1.5%.

Sectors & Stocks

All the sectoral indices were in green with gains of atleast 0.2%.

Realty, Power and Consumer Durables indices up 2.5-4% were the major sectoral gainers.

Bankex, Capital goods, Oil & Gas, Metal, Auto and FMCG indices gained between 1-2%.

IT and Health Care indices were the only laggards with gains 0.1-0.2%.

Sun Pharma, ONGC, Infosys and Wipro down upto 0.5% were the only losers among Sensex-30.

The ones leading the gains in noon trades were HDFC, RIL, ICICI Bank, L&T, TCS and SBI up 1-3%.

After recording their highest single-day fall in six and a half years on worries over a higher tax burden, ITC rebounded. The stock was up 2.3%.

The market breadth was very strong on the BSE owing to broad based buying. 2,016 stocks advanced while 875 stocks declined.

Rupee

The currency was trading at 60.10/11 versus Monday's close of 60.20/21, with more than 1% gains in the domestic share market aiding sentiment but month-end dollar demand for the greenback from importers is expected to limit sharper gains in the Indian unit.

The rupee is seen holding in a 60.00 to 60.30 range during the session and a broad 59.50 to 60.50 range until the budget due on July 10.

Global Markets

Asian shares ticked higher on Tuesday as improved manufacturing data from China, Japan and the United States augured well for global growth, despite a disappointing result from the euro zone.

After a sluggish start the majority of markets across the region struggled ahead through the session, pushing MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.4%.

Japan's Nikkei recouped early losses to add 0.05%, while Shanghai firmed 0.2%. South Korea outperformed with a rise of 1%, led by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hyundai Motor Co.

In Europe, all the major markets were marginally trading in green with CAC and DAX up 0.1-0.3% while FTSE was flat with a negative bias.