Short covering, strong rupee buoy Indian equities

Mumbai, Feb 2 (IANS) Short covering, coupled with a marginally strong rupee and hopes of positive quarterly corporate earnings buoyed the Indian equities markets during the mid-afternoon trade session on Thursday.

However, investors were cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy slated for next week, and the Bank of England's (BoE) interest rate decision later in the day.

The key indices traded in the green -- on a flat-to-positive note, as healthy buying was witnessed in consumer durables, healthcare and IT stocks.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up by 13.85 points or 0.16 per cent, to 8,730.25 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 28,167.83 points, traded at 28,194.41 points (at 1.45 p.m.) -- up 52.77 points or 0.19 per cent, from the previous close at 28,141.64 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 28,218.33 points and a low of 28,070.81 points during the intra-day trade so far.

The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,509 advances and 1,138 declines.

According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the Nifty mid-cap and small-cap indices traded in the positive territory, while the large-cap index traded on a lacklustre note.

"Asian indices traded in the negative territory and the Indian rupee continued to trade positive marginally," Desai said.

"Value buying was seen in telecom and IT sectors."

On Wednesday, positive budgetary announcements and a strong rupee lifted the benchmark indices to hit their three-month closing highs.

The NSE Nifty surged by 155 points or 1.81 per cent, to 8,716.30 points, while the BSE Sensex augmented by 485.68 points or 1.76 per cent.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)