Markets build on opening gains

Banks, IT and FMCG gains

Markets extended gains in the morning trades on the back of buying interest in banks, IT and FMCG space. At 10:30am, the Sensex was up 145 points at 19,555 and the Nifty gained 38 points at 5,947.

Meanwhile, the broader markets underperformed with the midcap index flat with a positive bias and the smallcap index retaining its 0.5% gain as compared to the Sensex which was up 0.7%.

Among the sectoral indices, except Realty index, all the other indices were in the green. Health care, Consumer Durables and FMCG indices up nearly 1% each were the notable gainers.

Among individual stocks, Kingfisher Airlines gained 4.9% and was locked at upper circuit at Rs 15.6 on report of a 48% stake sale to Etihad Airways, for a little over Rs 3,000 crore, citing sources in the two airlines.

Piramal Enterprises has rallied about 10% to Rs 604, extending its past five-days rally, after the company said it has acquired UK-based market analytics and market access solutions firm Abacus International through its subsidiary for an undisclosed amount.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is trading higher by 3% at Rs 1,238 after the state-owned company said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for cooperation on future Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM) ship-defence systems.
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(Updated at 9:27am)

Markets started off on a strong note with the Sensex up 76 points at 19,485 and the Nifty added 17 points at 5,926 led by gains in banks and Reliance Industries. In the broader markets, the smallcap and the midcap indices started up 0.4% each almost in line with the Sensex up 0.5%.

Technically, the Nifty is likely to seek support around 5,895-5,890, while face resistance around 5,925-5,930

The US markets closed flat in narrow trading. The Dow logged a four-day rally, but gains were limited as investors remained reluctant to jump in amid ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations. The CBOE volatility index traded above 16.

Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.11% at 13169.88. Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3% at 2986.96. Standard & Poor's 500 was up 0.03% at 1418.55.

Asian markets were trading mixed. China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.33% at 2,077. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat at 22,289.95. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.46% at 9,489.46.

All the sectoral indices opened in the green. The ones leading the gains were Health Care, Realty, Consumer Durables, Bankex, Power, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and PSU indices up 0.4-0.9%.

The movers among the Sensex-30 were Sun Pharma, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Dr Reddys Lab, Cipla, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp gained 0.8-1.6%

The only laggards among the Sensex-30 in the opening trades were Sterlite and Maruti Suzuki down 0.4-0.5%.

In individual stocks, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises opened higher by 2.5% at Rs 825 on BSE after the company said that it has signed a definitive agreement with Sutherland Global Services, a global provider of business process and technology management services, to sell 100% of the shares of its associate company Apollo Health Street.

The market breadth was positive. 817 stocks advanced while 236 stocks declined on the BSE.