Markets off the day's high

After a firm opening, the Sensex has pared its gains and is trading at 19,474 up 54 points while the Nifty gained marginally by 15 points at 5,841. However, the broader markets are active today outperforming the Sensex. The smallcap and the midcap indices are up 1% each as comapred to the BSE benchmark index gaining 0.3%.

On the sectoral chart, IT index is up 1% followed by Consumer Durables and Metal gaining 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. On the other hand, Oil & Gas and Power are trading in the negative.

The gainers in the morning trades are Hero Honda, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Jindal Steel, Wipro and HDFC Bank gaining 1% each.

Among the losers on the Sensex are Reliance Communications and Hindustan Unilever down 2% each followed by Cipla, Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure and HDFC shedding 1% each.

The market breadth is very positive. Of the total 2501 stocks traded on the BSE, 1927 stocks have advanced while 508 have declined.