Broader markets up 1%; RIL gains

ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank among the top gainers

After a brief session in red, markets have moved into the positive terrain as gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank helped the index edge higher. Also, gains across the Asian markets aided the upmove.

At 1023 hrs, the Sensex was up 66 points at 18,379 and the Nifty added 24 points to trade at 5,432.

In the broader markets, the smallcap and midcap indices advanced over 1% each, outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 0.4%.

Among the sectoral indices, FMCG and Teck indices were the only ones in the red, down 0.2% each.

Meanwhile, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Auto, Realty and Bankex advanced 1-3%. Oil & Gas and PSU indices too were up, 0.8% each.

The major losers among the Sensex-30 were Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddys Lab, NTPC, ITC and Gail India down 1% each.

Jindal Steel, BHEL, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS and HDFC Bank up 1-4% were the major gainers in morning trades.

RIL was up 1% as the company today announced a new gas condensate discovery off the east coast of India in the Cauvery basin. The discovery, in the deepwater block CY-DWN-2001/2 (CYD5), is situated 62 kilometers from the coast in the Cauvery Basin and is the second gas discovery in the block. RIL is the operator with 70% equity and BP has a 30% share.

The market breadth was positive. 1065 stocks advanced while 532 stocks declined on the BSE.