Sensex, Nifty extend rally on banks, IT stocks support

Moneycontrol Bureau12:55 pm Market update: Equity benchmarks continued to see buying interest. The Sensex climbed 180.12 points to 26022.04 and the Nifty rose 52.90 points to 7895.65.About 1481 shares have advanced, 913 shares declined, and 216 shares are unchanged on the BSE.12:40 pm Toll collection rights: Shares of MEP Infrastructure Developers gained 3.4 percent intraday on getting toll collection rights at Dastan village in Maharashtra.

"MEP has been awarded by Mumbai-JNPT Port Road Company Limited (a SPV of National Highways Authority of India) the rights for collection of user fee through user fee collection agency on the basis of competitive bidding at Km 9.100 (toll plaza near Dastan village) for widening/ improvement of Amra Marg including construction of new six lane bridge on Panvel creek in Maharashtra," the company said in its filing.

It was the fifth toll collection right for the company since September 30.

12:20 pm GMR Infra in News: GMR Energy today said its subsidiary GMR Rajahmundry Energy Ltd (GREL) has commenced commercial operation of gas-based 768MW power plant in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.Power generated from this plant would be supplied to Andhra Pradesh power distribution companies. "The commercial operation of the power plant commenced with the beginning of gas supply under e-bid RLNG Scheme (Scheme for Utilisation of Stranded Gas-based power plants), which was launched by the Centre in March, 2015", GMR Energy said in a BSE filing.

With e-bid RLNG Scheme, the 768MW power plant can now operate at 50 percent Plant Load Factor (PLF), thereby generating 384 MW and supplying power to AP discoms continuously, it said.Also read - Lack of leadership dragging mkt down, says Ambit's Holland12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks gained more strength in noon trade, supported by banking & financials and technology stocks. The Sensex rallied 210.05 points or 0.81 percent to 26051.97 and the Nifty rose 62.05 points or 0.79 percent to 7904.80.

The broader markets also gained in line with benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices surged 0.9 percent each. The market breadth was positive as about 1462 shares advanced against 794 declining shares on the BSE.

GAIL continued to be top gainer on Sensex, up more than 9 percent on reports of likely modification in long term gas contract with RasGas, the Qatar-based company. Petronet LNG was up over 6 percent.

Among others, TCS, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, M&M, Maruti, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Labs and Bajaj Auto gained 1-3 percent. However, ITC, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and Hindalco were under pressure.