Heavyweights push markets higher

After some rangebound movement, the markets have spurted to touch an intra-day high of 18,230. The Sensex is up 146 points at 18,219 and the Nifty is at 5,436, up 47 points.

SBI continues its stellar performance for the second consecutive day after the company announced its quarterly results. With a jump of 22% in the net profit, the company continues to lead the Sensex gainers charts, up 2.5% at Rs 2854.

ITC is the other major contributor to the upmove and is trading up 2% at Rs 156. This jump is in light of reports that ITC is in the race to buy the de-merged cigarette division of RDB Industries. Even after a gloomy outlook and subdued quarterly results, the shares are trading up nearly 2% at Rs 529.

Market heavyweight RIL too have advanced after some lackluster days of trading. The index heavyweight had added nearly 2% and is trading at Rs 990 due to the emergence of buying interest at lower levels.

On the negative side, Sterlite Industries, Reliance Communications and Mahindra & Mahindra continue to the major daggers.

The market breadth remains positive, with 1848 stocks advancing and 977 declines.