Markets continue to trade firm

The markets continue to trade firm in the past hour with the Sensex quoting at 18,611 gaining 117 points and the Nifty has added 36 points at 18,611. However, the broader markets have surged with the smallcap index up 0.8% and the midcap index added 0.7% outperforming the Sensex which gained 0.6%

Among the sectoral indices, Realty leads the morning gains closely followed by Capital Goods, Power and Consumer Durables indices which is up 1% each.The movers in the realty space are Sunteck Realty up 6% followed by Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha Developers and D B Realty gaining 2% each.

Shares of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firms staged a comeback on the bourses today, rising in the range of 3-8% after a plea was dismissed by a Delhi Court for making Anil Ambani one of the accused in the 2G spectrum scam case.The group's telecom arm, Reliance Communications, soared by 8.7% to touch an early peak of Rs 97 on the BSE. The stock had shed 4% yesterday.

Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd jumped by 8% to touch a high of Rs 73, while Reliance Capital zoomed up by 7% to touch an early peak of Rs 548.Reliance Infrastructure surged by 5%, while Reliance MediaWorks gained 6% and Reliance Power 4%.

Reliance Communication up nearly 7% continues to be the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. Reliance Infrastructure, L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra, RIL, ICICI Bank and Infosys are some of the other nateable gainers which has added 1% each.

Among the losers in the Sensex stocks are Tata Motors and HDFC down 1% followed by Hindustan Unilever, Hero Honda, Jindal Steel and Cipla lost in the range of 0.1-0.7%

The market breadth is positive.Of the total 2509 stocks traded on the BSE, 1645 stocks have advanced while 773 declined.