Sensex rises 100 pts; Ranbaxy hits 52-week high

Indian shares gained some strength today after a consolidation in previous session due to buying interest in technology, fast moving consumer goods, banks, metals and healthcare stocks. Asian markets like Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 0.9% and 0.2%, respectively whereas Shanghai declined just 0.2% due to HSBC's Preliminary PMI for August hit a 9-month low of 47.8 as against final 49.3 in July.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 98.56 points at 17,945.42 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 28.40 points to 5,441.25. The broader markets were up 0.5% as the market breadth remained in favour of advances.

Country's largest IT services exporters TCS, Infosys and Wipro moved up 1-1.6%. FMCG majors ITC and Hindustan Unilever went up 0.4%-0.8%.

Top lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank gained between 0.3% and 0.7%.

Healthcare stocks like Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs climbed 0.5%-1.5% while Ranbaxy Labs hit a 52-week high of Rs 552.70 with gaining nearly 3%.

Metals stocks strengthened on hopes of fiscal stimulus by Federal Reserve. Jindal Steel surged 2.4% while Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries rose nearly 1.5%. Sterlite Industries was up 0.5%.

Top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto fell 0.8% on profit booking.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel lost another 0.7% today after falling more than 3.5% yesterday due to downgrade by various foreign research firm. Nomura downgraded the stock to reduce and cut price target to Rs 220 from Rs 280.