Markets continue firm trades

Markets continue to trade firm, albeit off the day's highs. The Sensex is up 112 points at 17,734. Nifty meanwhile is trading at 5,375 - up 39 points.

BSE realty index is the top gainer among sectoral indices and is up nearly 3% at 1,868. Metal and IT indices are up aruond 2% each as well. However, the FMCG index has dropped marginally in red.

Reliance is the top contributor to the Sensex's upmove and has gained 1.5% at Rs 858. Meanwhile, the government has rejected Reliance Industries' demand for a revision in the KG-D6 gas price.

Infosys has added 1.4%. TCS is up 1.6% at Rs 1219. Wipro has surged 2%.

"We have mixed views on frontline IT counters; we believe TCS has more upside left and can move upto 1264+ levels. However, we are relatively less bullish on INFY; the counter has more upside to it but TCS will relatively out perform. Our view emerges from the obseration that the recent upside movemnet in TCS was on short-covering; this phase is generally succeded by fresh long additions which catapolt the stock (TCS in this case) into a new trading range," says Shshank Mehta, Derivatives Strategist, Shah Investor's Home Ltd.

Other prominent gainers include Jindal Steel and Hindalco from the metal pack, as well as DLF, Coal India and Maruti Suzuki.

However, Bharti Airtel is languishing in trades. The stock is down 6% at Rs 356. The company reported a 1.5% fall in consolidated profit of Rs 1,011 crore in the October-December quarter of FY12, as compared to Rs 1,027 crore in previous quarter. On a y-o-y basis, net profit fell 22% as the company was hit by higher interest costs and losses on currency fluctuations.

ICICI Bank has dipped 1.5% on news that Singapore-based Temasek Holdings plans to sell 1.38% stake in the bank to raise up to $303 million. Other losers include ITC and ONGC.