Markets on a firm ground

Markets continued to trade on a firm note in the noon deals. The Sensex advanced 184 points to 16,929 and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,089, up 87 points.

Meanwhile, the European markets have opened in the red the CAC 40 index opened at 2,909, down 1%, FTSE shed 0.6% to open at 5,225 and the DAX opened at 5,378 lower by 37 points.

Back home, most of the Sensex stocks were trading higher. Tata Motors was the top gainer, up 3% to Rs 166. IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained 2.4%-2.6% each. J P Associates, Hindalco, Jindal Steel, DLF, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sterlite Industries, ICICI Bank and Cipla also advanced 1.4-2% each in trades thus far.

On the other hand, ONGC was the top loser, down nearly 3% to Rs 261. Maruti Suzuki was down 1% at Rs 1,129 on back of continued labour unrest at its Manesar plant. BHEL, Coal India and Tata Power were also among the laggards on the benchmark index.

Most of the sectoral indices were trading higher with modest gains barring a few. BSE IT index was the top sectoral gainer, up 2.2% or 110 points to 5,163. The index gained after the Indian rupee fell to Rs 48.23, its weakest level in two years today. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a majority share of revenue from exports.

Consumer Durables, Metal, Bankex, Realty, FMCG, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also added 0.2-1.6% each. At the same time, PSU and Capital Goods indices languished in trades. The BSE PSU index was down 11 points at 7,669 and Capital Goods index was down 10 points at 11,776.

Wipro, Infosys, TCSW, HCL Technologies, Oracle Financial Services Software, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis, Patni Computer and Financial Technologies were the top gainers in the IT space. Among the PSU stocks ONGC was the top loser. It was followed by BHEL, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, Uco Bank, and MOIL.

The broader markets were also trading higher. The BSE mid-cap index was up 0.4% or 27 points at 6,399 and the small-cap index advanced 0.6% or 48 points to 7,259.

Overall breadth was extremely positive as 1,582 stocks were advancing while 924 stocks declining.