Sensex, Nifty extend gains; Tata Motor, Maruti top buy list

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty extended gains in afternoon trade led by further buying interest in banks, oil & gas, telecom, auto and capital goods stocks. Cigarette major ITC bounced back to trade with 1.25% gains.

The BSE benchmark jumped 157.52 points to 17,549.5 and the NSE benchmark moved up 49.75 points to 5,324.9. The Indian rupee appreciated by 26 paise to 55.66 against the US dollar.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank moved up 1-1.5% while their rival State Bank of India was up 0.8%.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel rose 1.4% and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group company Reliance Communications shot up 4%.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors topped the buying list, rising 2.9%. Top car maker Maruti Suzuki was up 2.4%. Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp and Mahindra & Mahindra gained 0.8-1.5%.

Housing finance company HDFC and software services provider Infosys advanced 0.8%. Oil & gas producers Reliance Industries and ONGC went up 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.

However, shares of HUL, NTPC, Tata Power and Wipro were down 0.3-1%.

European shares ended four straight sessions of losses, inching up 0.2% to 1032.12 points led by banks, after the finance chiefs ratified a deal to rescue Spanish lenders.

The euro zone ministers agreed to grant Spain an extra year until 2014 to reach its deficit reduction targets and set the parameters of an aid package for Madrid's ailing banks. But they made no apparent progress on how the bloc's new rescue fund, the ESM, will be used to intervene in bond markets.

(With inputs from Reuters)