Markets continue to rise on back of firm cues from Europe

The Sensex is trading at 18284, higher by 140 points and the Nifty is at 5467, up 44.75 points. The smallcap and midcap indices are trading over 1%.

European markets have also soared on the back of strong gains in mining and oil & gas sector. The FTSE is up 1.45% & CAC is up 1.4% each, while the DAX has advanced 1.3%.

All eyes are on Federal Reserve Committee, which will meet later this week to decide on the US economic policy.

The realty pack is the leading gainer on the BSE, up 3.75%, led by DLF which has surged 3.4% to Rs 317 and continues to trade near the week's high, Unitech has added 5.82% at Rs 90, while HDIL and Parsvanath Developers have risen over 3.5% each. 

Prakash Agarwal, Realty Analysts from RBS Equities says that most of realty companies had been laggards in terms of price performance in the past 6 to 12 months and are catching up now on the valuation front. Fundamentally, there has not been much improvement. Volumes, which picked up in FY10, have now stabilized.

Metals are also shining in trade today, aided by Hindustan Zinc, up 2.6% at Rs 1118, Jindal Steel, up 1.8% to Rs 636.5, and Sesa Goa, up 1.6% at Rs 370.25.

From the heavyweights, ICICI Bank has risen 2.8% to Rs 978, Tata Motors continues its upward run, up 2.6% to Rs 918, and Rcom, up 2.31% at Rs 177

Top losers on Sensex are HDFC Bank, down 0.8% at Rs 2079, RIL down 0.5% at Rs 993.

Oil & Gas is a laggard in trade, dragged down 0.43% by Cairn India, down 1.1% at Rs 339, RIL down 0.65% at Rs 994.

The BSE market breadth continues to be positive. 1965 stocks advancing for 1010 declining stocks