Markets trade firm, Sensex up 180pts

The markets traded firm in late-morning trades with the BSE Sensex at 16,124, up 178 points and the Nifty at 4,828, up 49 points.
Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index touched the day's high at 16,152 and the day's low at 15,970.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE IT, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas indices are leading the gains, up 1-2% each.

Infosys, TCS and Financial Technologies, up 1-2% each, are the major gainers from the IT space.

From the Capital Goods space, shares of Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company are trading higher by 9% at Rs 62 after the company announced that it had roped in an international strategic investor.

Suzlon Energy soared to a high of Rs 22.65 in early trades on the back of winning its fourth consecutive order from GAIL. Other gainers from the pack are BHEL and Areva T&D, up 2-3% each.

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Tata Motors is the top gainer, up 4% at Rs 168. Hindalco Industries, JP Associates, BHEL and Cipla are the other prominent gainer, up 2% each.

The losers from the pack are Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp and ITC, down 1-2% each.

Among individual stocks, SPML Infra is trading higher by nearly 4% at Rs 94 after the company announced that it has received new orders worth Rs 616.72 crore.

Larsen & Toubro has moved up 1% in morning trades on reports that the engineering conglomerate is targeting overseas revenue growth as part of a strategy to beat a slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy.

Force Motors has zoomed to the 20% upper circuit at Rs 605 after the company decided to reduce stake in the Indo-German joint venture Man Force Trucks (MFTPL).

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,221 stocks have advanced against 1,004 declining ones, on the BSE.