Markets gather momentum, Sensex up 224pts

The markets gathered steam again in the afternoon session, after a brief dip due to paring of gains a little after noon. The Sensex surged 224 points to 18,434, while the Nifty added 61 points to 5,521.

ICICI Bank added 4% at Rs 1,070, followed by Tata Motors at Rs 1,175 and BHEL at Rs 2,053 both up 3%. On the other hand, Relaince Infra was the top loser on the Sensex down mor than 3% at Rs 597, while Sterlite Industries shed 2% at Rs 166 owing to weakness on the metal counter, under pressure because of declining base metal prices. Bharti Airtel, which reported less than expected Q4FY11 results, slipped 2% to Rs 351.

The broader markets underperformed the benchmark, and were trading flat. The Mid-cap index was at 6,815, while the Small-cap index was at 8,305.

The Banking and Auto indices continud to top the sectoral indices chart. The BSE Bankex was up nerly 3% at 12,533, followed by the Auto counter at 9,119 up 2% and the IT index at 6,020 up 1%.

FMCG stocks witnessed some weakness; th index was the laggard in trade down 0.6% at 3,594.

MArket breadth was marginally positive, with 1,348 advances versus 1,301 declines.