Sensex, Nifty strong; BHEL, HDFC Bank, TCS top gainers

Moneycontrol Bureau

9:50 am Infra boost: The government approved three highway projects which would cost an estimated Rs 5,529 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave approval for development of the eight-laning of Mukarba Chowk to Panipat section of National Highway 1 in Delhi and Haryana. "The approval is in BOT (Toll) mode on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis," an official statement said, adding the cost is estimated to be Rs 2,204.51 crore.

9:30 am Poll: In January-March quarter, HDFC Bank is expected to report similar growth to Q3 . Profit may jump 20.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,812 crore and net interest income is seen rising 20.6 percent to Rs 5,971 crore in the quarter ended March 2015, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. Provisions need to be closely watched as in Q3FY15, provisions spiked 44 percent Y-o-Y and 23 percent Q-o-Q to Rs 560.43 crore.

Don't miss: Syngene listing likely by July, may offload 10%, says Biocon

The market has opened on a strong note. The Sensex is up 142.02 points or 0.5 percent at 28032.15, and the Nifty is up 48.50 points or 0.6 percent at 8478.20. About 395 shares have advanced, 67 shares declined, and 65 shares are unchanged.

BHEL, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, TCS and Tata Steel are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, GAIL, M&M and Bharti Airtel.

The Indian rupee opened with marginal loss of 13 paise at 62.95 per dollar versus 62.82 Wednesday. The dollar edges upward after a 6.1 percent jump in US home sales data lifted expectations Federal Reserve policymakers may soon hike interest rates.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "Globally, dollar continues to be trading in a range against major currencies with mixed US data offset by Grexit worries. Locally, weak stock market and RBIs view that the currency is overvalued is keeping the rupee under pressure. Rupee is expected to trade in a range of 62.85-63.20/dollar today."

Global cues, meanwhile, are positive. US stocks closed about half a percent higher, ending a day of choppy trade as investors weighed mixed earnings and signs of strength in the housing market.

European markets closed mixed while Asian stocks were trading in the green tracking overnight gains from Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei continued its advance above the 20,000 mark.In commodities, renewed fighting in Yemen pushed brent crude marginally higher, trading at USD 62 dollars per barrel.

Gold slipped to USD 1180 an ounce as the dollar pared some losses after euro zone data disappointed, while the absence of major developments in the Greek crisis left investors cautious.