Markets rise as midcaps shine

Sensex up 151 points, Nifty about 8550

Mumbai: Led by IT stocks on back of strengthening dollar, the markets maintained upward movement on Wednesday as bulls took control of the Street as benchmarking indices gains over 0.5 per cent.

The Sensex surged 151 points to end at 28,223 and Nifty gained, closing 51 points at 8,568. Meanwhile, the broader markets also outperformed with midcap and smallcap indices gaining 0.8 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.

Analysts say the mood of the investors upbeat after the RBI's monetary policy indicating possible rate cut in the coming months, once the consumer inflation moderates. With the same breath, the banking regulator warned banks about the NPAs, resulting in banking shares losing charm.

Interestingly, more than the index stocks, the midcaps shine more in the last couple of sessions, and it may be proper only going by the stock specific action. Experts see further strengthening of Nifty to break at 8,650 on spot.

Sugar and steel stocks were in the focus, with government planning to announce mandatory export rules for sugar, while steel to get import duty hike on long and flat steel products.

On sectoral front, FMCG, IT, Realty, Healthcare and auto indices closed higher up to 3.5 per cent, while bankex decline 0.3 per cent. Among the IT stocks, Infosys, Wipro and TCS gained up to nearly 3 per cent.

The gainers: Wipro, up 2.94 per cent at Rs 574.60; Infosys, up 2.52 per cent at Rs 1,086.55; Bajaj Auto, up 2.36 per cent at Rs 2,569.70; Tata Steel, up 2.28 per cent at Rs 262.25; and Lupin, up 2.08 per cent at Rs 1,678.

The losers: Tata Motors, down 1.10 per cent at Rs 376.75; Coal India, down 1.08 per cent at Rs 438.05, State Bank of India (SBI), down 0.99 per cent at Rs 285.35; ICICI Bank, down 0.96 per cent at Rs 311.10; and Hindalco Inds, down 0.91 per cent at Rs 108.30.