Sensex above 27,000; Tata Motors up 1.7%

Benchmark share indices have remained firm after a gap up opening aided by rally in auto stocks and  a rebound in IT shares.

At 9:30 AM the 30-share Sensex was up 131 points at 27,012 and the 50-share Nifty was up 36 points at 8,063.

In the broader market, BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices have gained 0.4-0.7% each.

Market breadth is heavily positive with almost three gainers for every decilne.
On Tuesday, Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 108 crore.

Asian markets were trading higher tracking overnight gains in US stocks on the back of robust corporate earnings. Japanese were the top gainers in the region with the Nikkei up 1.4%. Shares in China were also trading firm with Shanghai Composite was up 0.3% while Straits Times was up 0.4% and the Hang Seng surged 0.9%.

Major US stock indices ended over 1% higher on Tuesday as better-than-expected earnings from large corporates and consumer confidence data which touched the highest level in seven years boosted investor sentiment. Further, energy stocks also rebounded after the correction in the previous session. Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting comments on the economic outlook from the US Fed which ends its two-day meet later today. The Dow Jones ended up 188 points or 1.1% at 17,006, the broader S&P 500 rose 23 points or 1.2% at 1,985 and tech-laden Nasdaq surged 78 points or 1.8% to end at 4,564.

Sectors and  stocks

BSE Auto inex has gained the most followed by BSE IT and Metal indices.

Among auto stocks, Hero MotoCorp has gained above 2% after the RBI allowed hike in FII shareholding in the company upto 49%. Tata Motors has gained around 1.7%, M&M has gained more than 1% while Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki have gained 0.5-0.6% each.

Among IT stocks, Infosys and Wipro have gained close to 1% while TCS is up around 0.1%.

Among bank shares, while SBI, Axis Bank and HDFC twins have gained close to 0.6% each ICICI Bank is flat.

Among phrama shares, Cipla has gained close to 1% and Sun Pharma is up around 0.1% while Dr Reddy's Lab is down around 0.4% ahead of the release of its quarter earnings later today.

Among metal stocks, while Tata Steel and Hindalco have gained close to 1% each, Sesa Sterlite is down around 0.8%.