Sensex up 100 points, Nifty ends above 10,200 on earning optimism

The 30-share Sensex shuttled between 32,670.37 and 32,502.08 during the day before settling higher by 100.62 points or 0.31 per cent at 32,607.34, extending its gains for a second day.

The gauge had gained 116.76 points yesterday.

The NSE Nifty climbed 22.85 points, or 0.22 per cent, to close above the 10,200-mark at 10,207.70. Intra-day, it moved between 10,237.75 and 10,182.40 in a volatile trade.

The sentiment got support from better-than-expected earnings results by select companies and continuous buying by domestic financial institutions.

"Banking sector led the market higher on expectations over FM's announcement on recapitalisation plans for PSU banks later today, but earnings too did its part in keeping sentiments buoyant," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

"Volatility continued to plague market momentum as mixed global cues and the expiry of October derivatives contracts impacted investor sentiment," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager – Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

The broader markets depicted a firm trend as investors raised bets on hopes of encouraging earnings, lifting the small-cap index by 0.56 per cent and mid-cap index by 0.21 per cent.

Buying was led by PSU, power, oil & gas, banks, metal, realty and FMCG -- supported by second-line shares of mid-cap and small-cap industries. While selling was seen in IT, healthcare and consumer durables sector counters.

Asian Paints emerged as the top gainer among Sensex constituents by rising 4.10 per cent on expectations of strong earnings, followed by state-run lender SBI which rose 3.56 per cent.

Private lender HDFC Bank ended 0.13 per cent higher after it posted 20.1 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 4,151 crore for the second quarter.

ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank too rose up to 1.70 per cent, helping the indices to extend gains for a second day.

Other major gainers were NTPC, ONGC, Hindsutan Unilever, Tata Steel, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, Axis Bank, Cipla, ITC HDFC LTD and Dr Reddy's.

However, the country's second largest software exporter Infosys lost 1.37 per cent ahead of its quarterly earnings announced after the trading hours today.

Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Lupin, Sun Pharma, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, TCS, Adani Ports and Wipro too fell up to 1.54 per cent on profit-booking.

Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, power rose by 1.28 per cent followed by utilities 1.26 per cent, telecom 0.82 per cent, oil&gas 0.63 per cent, bankex 0.62 per cent and metal 0.55 per cent. However, IT fell by 0.76 per cent, healthcare 0.41 per cent, consumer durables 0.31 per cent and teck 0.22 per cent.

The market breadth turned positive as 1,478 stocks ended in green, 1,282 closed in red while 135 ruled steady.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,995.29 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3,904.87 crore registered during the previous trading session.

Most of the Asian stocks gained with Japan's Nikkei extending the longest winning streak in its nearly 70-year history to end 0.50 per cent higher.

China's Shanghai Composite Index too gained 0.22 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang seng fell 0.53 per cent.

European markets too were higher in their late morning deals with Frankfurt's DAX rising 0.08 per cent, while Paris CAC 40 up 0.07 per cent. London's FTSE, however, edged lower by 0.12 per cent.