Markets open firm

The Indianmarkets have opened on a strong note with the Sensex opening at 20,338, up 77 points while the Nifty started trading at 6,118 gaining 17 points.In the broader markets, the midcap started with a stellar performance up 1.3% at 8,403 while the smallcap is flat at 10,691. The benchmark index is trading at 0.3%.

On the BSE sectoral indices, Consumer Durables up 1.5% leads the pack followed by IT, Auto and Bankex. The least gainers in the morning trades are Metal index flat at 17,233, FMCG and Capital Goods gaining 0.09%

TCS up 4.5% is the top gainer on the Sensex in the opening trades on the back of its strong Q2 results declared yesterday. Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel,Cipla,BHEL and ICICI Bank gaining 0.5%- 0.8% are the other top gainers.

The losers on the bechmark index are Wipro down 2.5% as it lagged its forecast. ACC, Tata Power losing nearly 0.8% each, Sterlite, Jindal Steel, ITC shedding 0.5% are the top losers.

The market breadth is very positive. 1188 stocks have advanced while 472 have declined.