The Sensex was up 100 points, while the Nifty rallied 26 points in trade. Telecom stocks were in the limelight after the FDI hike with Idea rallying 3 per cent, while Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel both gained 1 per cent each.

Ranbaxy Labs dropped 1.5 per cent after reports that some of its plants were under FDI scanner. Banking stocks which were hammered out of shape after RBI decision on hiking MSF saw some continued to lose ground. Axis Bank and Indus Ind Bank both lost 1 per cent, while HDFC Bank was trading marginally lower ahead of its results later today.

PSU banks lost ground once again with notable losers from the space being Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank.

Software stocks continued to rally with TCS and Infosys among the gainers. Buying was also seen in defensives like ITC and Hindustan Unilever.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading higher with notable gainers in Asia being the Jakarta Composite and the Seoul Composite.

GoodReturns.in