Markets opened marginally higher on Tuesday with the benchmark Nifty reclaiming the 8,000 mark led by financials. However, traders are likely to remain cautious ahead of the two-day FOMC meet which begins today.

At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 99 points at 26,852 and the 50-share Nifty was up 25 points at 8,017.

Benchmark indices continued to trade firm after a gap up opening led by L&T and Tata Motors while index heavyweight Reliance industries rebounded after the recent correction post the gas price hike.

At 10.40AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 179 points at 26,754 and the 50-share Nifty is up 54 points at 7,982.

L&T Infra Finance Private Equity, which is in the process of raising a total of Rs 3,750 crore in an overseas fund and a domestic fund, plans to launch a real estate fund, too. The first two funds will focus on infrastructure assets such as power, roads and renewable energy.

The infrastructure financing non-banking financial company's latest move comes on the back of building a Rs 14,800-crore loan book in the past eight years.

Engineering firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Tuesday said it has bagged a contract worth Rs 1,630 crore from the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority for the construction of a six-lane access controlled expressway in the state.

The company's transportation infrastructure business has received the Rs 1,630 crore EPC order for constructing a six- lane access controlled expressway from Unnao district to Lucknow, a release issued here said.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has moved higher by 2% to Rs 1,490 after the company said it has won new orders worth Rs 1,423 crore across various business segments in September 2014, including order from Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation.

The company’s heavy civil infrastructure business has bagged a Rs 631 crore prestigious order from the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation Limited for the construction of the Lucknow Metro, L&T said in a statement.

In July, when Tata group Chairman Cyrus Mistry identified defence & aerospace as one of the four clusters that could drive growth for the conglomerate over the next decade, he clearly had his eye on the estimated $250 billion (Rs 15 lakh crore) that the government would spend to purchase arms and equipment in this period. The other three clusters, in Mistry's view, were consumer goods, infrastructure and financial services.

After a brief opening in red, benchmark indices edged higher on account of gains in IT and pharma names. At 0940 hrs, the Sensex was up 62 points at 26,688 and the Nifty edged higher up 13 points to trade at 7,981.

In line with weak Asian cues, the benchmark indices started on a flat note with a negative bias. The one weighing on the indices were ICICI Bank, L&T, ITC and ONGC in opening deals.

The recent 1,000 point correction in the S&P BSE Sensex from its record high has seen 109 stocks from BSE-500 index hit their respective three-month low level.

Reliance Industries, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, DLF, Tata Power Company, Reliance Infrastructure, Cairn India and Reliance Capital are among few notable shares touched three-month low on BSE during the current week.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro today said it has bagged new orders worth Rs 1,577 crore in September including those for building two residential towers in Mumbai.

"The construction arm of L&T has won new orders worth Rs 1,577 crores across various business segments in September 2014," an official statement said.

The L&T management on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to complete the Rs 16,000-crore Hyderabad Metro Rail project “expeditiously as per schedule” after local newspapers published reports stating the concessionaire had informed the government its intent to exit from the public-private partnership project owing to several issues, including the change in status of Hyderabad post bifurcation.

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