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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  Mid session: Markets extend rise to over 3%
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Mid session: Markets extend rise to over 3%

Mid session: Markets extend rise to over 3%

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Mumbai: Indian shares extended their rise to more than 3% on Wednesday afternoon as investors covered short positions before monthly derivatives contracts expire at the end of trade.

At 2:40pm, the 30-share BSE index was up 3.05% at 11,337.14 points, with 29 stocks gaining and the 50-share NSE index was up 2.9% at 3,458.25.

Markets rose 2% on Wednesday morning, lifted by gains in Asia and as the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts ahead of a long weekend pushed investors to cover their short positions.

Energy giant Reliance Industries, outsourcer Infosys Technologies and leading banks such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank led the gains.

Shares in top telecom Bharti Airtel rose as much as 3.5% after reported a 21% rise in quarterly profit, and announced its maiden dividend and a two-for-one stock split.

At 11:26am, the 30-share BSE index was up 1.4% at 11,160.38 points, with 26 stocks advancing, and later extended its rise to more than 2%. The 50-share NSE index was up 1.6% at 3,415.65.

Asian markets were higher after two days of losses, with MSCI’s measure of Asian markets excluding Japan rising 1.7%. Japan was closed for a holiday.

India’s benchmark index had shed 3.25% on Tuesday, its biggest one-day drop in almost a month.

“Yesterday, the market tended to overcorrect a bit. But today, the futures rollover is making investors cover their short positions and pushing the market higher," T S Harihar, senior vice president at ICICI Securities, said.

The market will be closed on Thursday as Mumbai votes in national elections and for a holiday on Friday. As a result, the monthly settlement of derivatives has been brought forward one day to Wednesday.

No. 2 software-services firm Infosys advanced 2.6% to Rs1,468. Reliance Industries, which has the biggest weighting in the main index, rose 2.6% to Rs1,469.40, after easing 2.7% on Tuesday.

Private-sector lender ICICI Bank gained 2.8% to Rs451.50, and HDFC Bank climbed 1.5% to Rs1,087.

In the broader market, advancers led losers 1,063 to 793 on relatively moderate volume of 100.3 million shares.

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Published: 29 Apr 2009, 02:49 PM IST
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