Markets near day's high

The Sensex continues its rally and is trading near the days' high at 19,769 up 174 points or 0.9%. The Nifty has also gained 51 points and is nearing the 6000-mark currently at 5940.

FMCG index leads the rally among the key sectoral indices up nearly 2% at 3633 followed by Consumer Durables, Realty and Teck indices.

Among the FMCG stocks - ITC is the top gainer up 3% at Rs 173 followed by Colgate Palmolive at Rs 846 up 2.8%. Hindustan Unilever and Nestle are up more than 1% each.

Reliance Communications leads the Sensex chart up nearly 3.7% at Rs 172 followed by ITC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC and ACC.

However, Metal and Banking stocks are the laggards and are trading flat. Among the Metal stocks Sterlite Industries is the top loser down over 1% at Rs 171, NMDC, Welspun Corp, Jindal Saw and Sesa Goa are the significant losers.

In the Banking space Federal Bank is at Rs 373 down nearly 1% followed by Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank.

The broader markets are also trading higher, Midcap index has gained 62 points at 8166 and Small-cap index is higher by 106 points at 10,345.

The market breadth is extremely positive as 1902 stocks are advancing while 864 stocks have declined.