Nifty touches 5700; Rupee above 53/USD

The 50-share NSE Nifty touched the 5700 level quite nicely following recovery in Indian rupee. Finance Minister P Chidambaram says there is no serious threat of a ratings downgrade after the rating agency Standard & Poor's has warned about a significant chance of cutting India's credit rating in the future.

Chidambaram said they have been taking threat of ratings downgrade seriously. "Many reforms can be implemented over 1.5 years," he said.

The BSE Sensex rose 153.65 points or 0.82 percent to 18,784.75 and the NSE Nifty gained 51.40 points at 5,703.55. The Indian rupee appreciated 26.50 paise to 52.78 against the US dollar.

State-owned power equipment maker BHEL rallied 3 percent. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel, commercial vehicle major Tata Motors and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro were up 2 percent each.

Public sector lender State Bank of India and state-run oil & gas producer ONGC gained 1 percent each. Private sector lender HDFC Bank moved up 1 percent too.

Software services exporter Infosys rallied 1.6 percent amid large volumes while drug producer Cipla tanked nearly 2 percent.

The BSE Midcap Index was up 1 percent and Smallcap rose 0.75 percent. Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 892 to 540 on the National Stock Exchange.