Markets firm in noon trades

The benchmark indices have added weight in the past one hour. After hovering around the 5000 level through most of the day, the Nifty has taken off in the afternoon session due to buying in the oil, metal and realty space. The Sensex is now quoting at 16752, higher by 135 points, and the Nifty is well above the 5k mark at 5029, up 42 points. The midcap index is quoting at 6825, higher by 67 points and the smallcap index is at 8534, up 66 ponts.

Bharti Airtel has extended its gains and is now up 4.9% at Rs 270. ONGC has added another 2.6% at Rs 1196 and Reliance Infra is up 2.1% at Rs 1079. Tata Steel, Hindalco and DLF are the other significant gainers. And index heavyweight RIL has bounched back from the day's lows of Rs 1000 and is now up 1.6% at Rs 1013.

On the losers side, ITC has weakened by 2.9% at Rs 281 after turning ex-dividend. Tata Power has lost 1.1% at Rs 1227 and Wipro has shed 0.4% at Rs 641.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 2611 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1641 advancing stocks as against 862 declines.