Sensex, Nifty Near Day's High Led By L&T, IT Stocks: Midday Market Update

India's benchmark stock indices extended gains to trade near the day's high through midday on Tuesday, led by gains in Larsen & Toubro and IT stocks.

As of 12:00 noon, the NSE Nifty 50 gained 189.50 points, or 0.88%, to 21,702.50, and the S&P BSE Sensex traded 594.67 points, or 0.83%, higher at 71,949.89.

"Today, all sectoral indices are currently showing positive trends driven by favourable global signals," said Shrey Jain, founder and chief executive officer at SAS Online, a deep discount broker.

"The market (Nifty 50) is still stuck in the 21,500–21,800 range. Once the market crosses 21,800, it can move higher towards 22,000 and higher," said Deven Mehata, derivative analyst at Choice Broking. "Short-term traders should keep booking profits on the higher side and can purchase near the support with a strict stop loss of 21,475 on a closing basis."

Shares of Infosys Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., were contributing to the Nifty 50.

Meanwhile, those of Nestle India Ltd., Asian Paints Ltd., Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd., and UltraTech Cement Ltd., weighed on the index.

All sectoral indices gained except Nifty Media, which fell due to losses in Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Nifty IT, Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty gained over 1%.

The broader markets also traded higher, with the BSE MidCap rising 0.40% and the BSE SmallCap gaining 0.81% through midday on Tuesday.

Nineteen sectoral indices compiled by the BSE advanced, S&P BSE Telecommunication traded flat.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the buyers. As many as 2,532 stocks advanced, 1,169 declined and 131 remained unchanged on the BSE.