Benchmark indices continued to trade firm in noon deals on Friday with IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro leading the gains.

At 12:25 pm, the Sensex is up 157 points at 25,999 and the Nifty has gained 46 points to trade at 7,889. Broader markets are trading in line with the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up almost 1%.

Shares of RPP Infra Projects were up nearly 3% at Rs 110 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said it has recceived orders worth Rs 25.6 crore from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

The orders are for improving and widening road on NH-17 & NH-48 in identified stretches of New Mangalore Port Road Connectivity Project, the company said in a release.

PATNA: Janata Dal-United's Nitish Kumar, whose Grand Alliance with former rival Lalu Prasad saw them storming to power in Bihar, was sworn in as Chief Minister for a record fifth time in a mega ceremony at Patna's sprawling Gandhi Maidan on Friday.

Overseen by Governor Ram Nath Kovind, Nitish took the oath of office and secrecy in the name of God in Hindi. Lalu's sons, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, also took their oath as ministers, the former likely to be made Bihar's deputy chief minister.

Mumbai: Private fuel retailers Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Essar Oil Ltd have captured 3% of the local market in the last one year since diesel prices were freed from government control.

It is similar to the rate at which these companies expanded their presence in the fuel-retailing business between 2002 and 2005, when they cornered almost 12-13% of the market over three years. After that, most private fuel retailers exited the market since subsidies on products such as diesel made it unviable to compete against state-owned firms.

NEW DELHI: GMR Energy Ltd 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.

After a lower opening, markets have gained momentum led by buying in the technology stocks as rekindled hopes of an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve in the month of December is likely to result in strengthening of dollar.

From the IT space, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Mindtree, Intellect Design Arena and Mastek have gained between 2-12%.

Shares of gas distribution companies such as GAIL (India), Gujarat Gas Company, Indraprastha Gas (IGL) and Petronet LNG have rallied by up to 18% on the bourses on back of heavy volumes.

Gujarat Gas Company has rallied 18% to Rs 571, while GAIL (India) surged 11% to Rs 346, followed by Petronet LNG surged 9% to Rs 225 and IGL by 7% to Rs 496 on the BSE in intra-day trade. The BSE S&P Sensex was up 0.51% or 131 points at 25,973 at 10:54 AM.

The Piramal Group's Piramal Fund Management and Axis Bank have co-funded Rs 550 crore in a mixed-use property project of The 3C Company in Noida, an executive in the know has said. This is the largest real estate debt funding deal in the National Capital Region this year.

While the Ajay Piramal-headed group's arm funded Rs 375 crore in the project, named Delhi One, Axis Bank invested Rs 175 crore which is a structured debt deal, said the executive, who did not want to be identified.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened against the US dollar after local equity markets gained over 350 points.

The home currency closed at 66.19, up 0.17% from its previous close of 66.30. The local unit opened at 66.12 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.05 and 66.23, respectively, in intra-day trade.

A gold deposit scheme launched amid fanfare by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago has so far attracted only 400 grams, an industry official said on Thursday, out of a national hoard estimated at 20,000 tonnes.

Modi has urged Indians to put gold stashed in homes and temples in the bank, offering modest rates of interest that earlier schemes have lacked. His government has also launched 'paper' gold in the form of gold-backed bonds.

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