Sensex, Nifty continue to gain; FMCG, auto, HDFC twins lead

Moneycontrol Bureau12:45 pm Earnings: Mumbai-based real estate developer Godrej Properties has reported robust earnings in quarter ended September 2015. Profit shot up 127.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 106.2 crore during the quarter on solid revenue growth.

Revenue increased 5-fold to Rs 1,458.5 crore during the quarter compared to Rs 294 crore in year-ago period.12:30 pm Services PMI: India's services sector activity touched an eight-month high in October driven by a significant rise in new business orders even as growth in manufacturing output eased, a Nikkei survey said.The Nikkei Business Activity index climbed to 53.2 in October, from 51.3 in September, as fresh orders expanded at a solid pace and were most pronounced since February."Services companies saw a faster rise in new businesses than their manufacturing counterparts," said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at Markit, which compiled the survey.

12:15 pm Boardroom: Hexaware Technologies is on track to grow in-line with industry average this year and further expects CY16 growth to be higher than industry, says company executive director and CEO R Srikrishna.

He also says margin improvement is not the main focus of the company. The aim is to deliver sustainable growth, he adds. He says the company is happy with margins in the 15-17 percent range.Also read - Bihar poll result impact to be brief; earnings key: Rabobank12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest in noon trade amid volatility, supported majorly by Tata Motors. FMCG, infra, select banking & financials and other auto stocks also provided support to market. However, selling pressure in ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries limited upside.

The Sensex rose 112.96 points to 26703.55 and the Nifty was up 23.75 points at 8084.45. The broader markets continued to trade in line with benchmarks, rising 0.3 percent.

Tata Motors rallied nearly 6 percent on strong US sales data in October followed by HUL, M&M, SBI, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp with 1-2 percent upside. ICICI Bank, TCS, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and ONGC were marginally in red.