Markets on an upward spiral, Sensex up 200pts

The upmove in the markets continued in the noon deals on back of renewed buying interest shown by investors. Buying was visible across the board helping the Sensex to cross the 17,000-mark.

The Sensex surged 211 points to 17,074 and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,132, higher by 68 points.

Somil Mehta, Technical Analyst with Sharekhan expects the Sensex to move upto 17,800 levels as the index has started forming higher tops and higher bottoms on the daily chart.

Meanwhile, the European markets have also opened on a positive note, CAC 40 index opened at 3,037, higher 2.4%, FTSE opened at 5,274, up 2.3% however the DAX was down 1% at 5,193

Back home, JP Associates was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. It surged 6% to Rs 70 on back of news reports that the company is in talks with Votorantim, Cemex for a minority stake sale.

Tata Power, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Coal India, Hindalco, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Sterlite Industries and ICICI Bank also advanced 2-4% each. Index bellwether Reliance Industries continued the upmove consecutively for the second day, up 1.5% to Rs 833.

On the other hand Hero MotoCorp, ITC and Hindustan Unilever were among the notable losers on the benchmark index.

All the sectoral indices were trading higher. BSE Banking index- Bankex was the top sectoral gainer. The index added 2.3% or 254 points to 11,303. Realty index also added 33 points or nearly 2% to 1,780. Capital Goods, PSU, Metal, Power, Oil & Gas and IT indices also added 1-1.8% each.

Union Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Indusind Bank and Punjab National Bank were the top gainers among the Banking stocks, 2-4% each. From the realty space Godrej Properties was the top gainer up 4% to Rs 719. It was folowed by Parsvanath Developers, HDIL, Unitch, D B Realty, Peninsula Land and Sobha Developers.

The broader markets were also trading on a firm note. The BSE mid-cap index was at 6,477, up 1.3% or 83 points to 6,477 and the small-cap index was at 110 points to 7,307.

Overall breadth was extremely positive as 1,871 stocks advanced while 727 stocks declined on the BSE.