Firm trend prevails; Sensex up 350pts
Markets are trading strong in the noon trades, a day ahead of Diwali. The Sensex is now up 347 points at 20,814, and the Nifty is at 6257 up 96 points.
Mahindra & Mahindra leads the gainers chart among Sensex stocks, the stock is up nearly 4% at Rs 788 followed by Hindalco, SBI, HDFC and Tata Motors while Bharti Airtel and Hero Honda are among the losers.
All the indices are trading in the green with Metal index leading the sectoral pack, up 1.8% or 312 points at 17,393, followed by Oil & Gas, Auto and Bankex indices up more than 1.5% each.
The broader markets have underperformed, the small-cap index is up 45 points at 10,854 and mid-cap index is at 8585, up 53 points.
Meanwhile, debutant Coal India is witnessing heavy buying, the stock is trading at Rs 336, a premium of 37%.
On the economic front, the Primary articles inflation eased to 15.43% compared to 16.62% for week ended October 23.