Mid-day market trade: Indian equity barometers snap 5-day losses; across-the-board buying helps

Indian equities cheering across-the-board buying gained sharply in the mid-day trade as we entered the new August series. At the last count, Nifty was up a sharp 1.46 per cent or 356.75 points at 24,762.85, while the Sensex was up 1.42 per cent or 1,139.2 at 81,178.99.

By and large, the barometers have snapped their past 5 days losses and turned positive after the sell-off seen post the budget announcement seen to be negative for equities on Tuesday.

The mood on the D-Street is strengthening as the US Q2 GDP which came in better-than-expectations bolsters the chances of a rate cut in September and this rate cut by the US will augur well for emerging economies including India, channelising funds into Indian markets.

Sectorally, metal pack led the gains, with the most contribution from Adani Enterprises, JSW Steel, Coal India, Tata Steel and Vedanta among others. While the auto and IT pack stood as the second-best performing indices, up 2.18 per cent each at the last count.

IT stocks added to the gains as the rate cut stance got a push after the US GDP numbers came in better than expected, shrugging off the likelihood of a likely recession in the world's most developed economy. Nifty IT marked a fresh high today on better earnings posted by IT majors.

Meanwhile, the broader markets continued their outperformance, with Nifty Midcap 100 up nearly 2 per cent at the time of writing the copy.