Sensex maintains buoyancy in afternoon trade, up 281 pts; Bharti Airtel, Maruti firm

Stock markets are trading strong in the mid-day trade. Buying interest was seen across sectors, which the dealers attributed to build up of fresh long-positions on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will slash its key lending rate at its monetary policy review slated Tuesday.

The local indices also drew support from peers in the Asian region such as Nikkei and Hang Seng , helping the Sensex touch an intra-day high of 27,829 points in the intra-day trade.

At 12.50 pm, the 30-share benchmark S&P Sensex was quoted at 27,787.50 points, up 280.79 points or 1.02 percent, from the last close. The index gained 323 points to touch a high of 27,829.91 points before trimming some gains subsequently. The broader 50-share CNX Nifty was trading at 8,407.85 points, up 88.85 points, or up by 1.1 percent.

The Nifty closing above the crucial 8,300 levels on Thursday triggered further buoyancy in the index, said a dealer with a local brokerage. The market breadth was positive with 1,343 stocks advancing against 919 declines on BSE.

Markets are also eyeing the important Jan-Mar quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers scheduled to be announced later I the day. On Thursday, credit rating agency Moody’s said India’s economic growth rate in the March quarter is likely to slip to 7.2 per cent from 7.5 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.

“External headwinds weighed on India’s March quarter GDP. The trade deficit widened, exports fell at double-digit in the opening months of 2015. Mixed global demand is partly to be blamed, while lower global commodity prices are also hurting exporter incomes.”

Leading the upsurge in the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel rose 2.4 percent to Rs 411. A day before, UK-based telecom company, Vodafone said it has exited Bharti Airtel by offloading its 4.2 percent stake in the Indian firm for about $200 million.

Automobile major Maruti Suzuki gained nearly 2 percent to trade Rs 3,774.20, while IT firm Infosys moved up 1.9 percent to Rs 2,052 and Cipla was up 1.87 percent at Rs 655.

Coal India shares rose 1.8 percent at Rs 389.95. despite the company logging a 4.4 percent year-on-year fall in its net profit at Rs 4,238.55 crore. The firm’s total revenue increased 3.7 percent to Rs 21,339.55 crore.

Other gainers such as Sun Pharma, Wipro, L&T, ITC and Tata Power were up more than 1 percent each. However, oil exploration firm ONGC was trading down 1.4 percent at Rs 323.45 after the company’s fourth quarter earnings missed the forecast. The net profit fell 19.5 percent on year to Rs 3,935 crore while total income grew by 1.6 percent at Rs 21,647.50 crore.

Also, BHEL slipped nearly 1 percent to Rs 250.30 while HeroMoto Corp was trading down 0.2 percent at Rs 2,637.50.