- At 1:54 pm, the Sensex traded 100.49 points higher at 36,736.59 and the Nifty was at 11,062.75, up 9.75 points from the previous close.
- Top gainers on the 50-scrip index at the time were Hindustan Petroleum, L&T, M&M and ITC, trading between 1.59 per cent and 2.41 per cent lower.
- The Nifty FMCG gained 0.88 per cent at the day's strongest point, providing some support to the markets. Top laggards on the 50-scrip index in afternoon were Indiabulls Housing Finance, Coal India, Indian Oil and Wipro, trading between 1.71 per cent and 3.24 per cent lower.
- On the other hand, the Nifty IT - comprising information technology stocks - declined as much as 0.73 per cent in intraday trade. Prominent Nifty IT laggards, besides Wipro, included Tech Mahindra and Infosys - declining as much as 1.64 per cent and 1.63 per cent in intraday trade respectively.
- The rupee gained as much as 0.47 per cent to hit 69.95 against the dollar, a level last seen on January 8.
- Any appreciation in the rupee limits the profitability for exporters such as IT and pharma companies. The Nifty Pharma shed as much as 0.80 per cent during the session.
- Analysts said they expect some more upside in the near term.
- "Market sentiment is improving more because of expectation that the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government will return to power... Large caps have opportunity, but mid-caps are performing well," news agency Reuters quoted Deven Choksey, founder, KR Choksey Investment Managers, as saying.
- The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indexes rose as much as 0.39 per cent 0.37 per cent during the session.
- The Nifty had added 260.5 points, a gain of 2.41 per cent, in past three consecutive sessions. During this period, the Sensex had advanced 768.66 points, or 2.14 per cent.
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(With agency inputs)
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