Markets open higher

The markets have continued from where they left in the previous week. The Sensex is quoting at 17973, higher by 140 points and the Nifty is at 5390, up 36 points in early trades.

Wall Street had closed out its best week in a year on Friday, with the Dow rising 59 points and Nasdaq gaining 21 points. And the Asian markets have edged higher in opening trades. The Hang Seng was quoting at 20,427, higher by 49 points and Nikkei is at 9,592, up six points, in early trades.

The leading gainers on the BSE are Sterlite (strengthened by 1.7% at Rs 170), ICICI Bank (gained 1.5% at Rs 885) and Wipro (added 1.4% at Rs 406). DLF, M&M and Hindalco are the other major gainers. And index heavyweight RIL has edged higher by 0.4% at Rs 1060.

Infosys has hardened by 1.1% at Rs 2904 ahead of its results for the first quarter ended June 2010 to be announced on Tuesday. One would have to watch whether the IT bellwether revises its annual guidance and its guidance for the second quarter. Among the other IT stocks, TCS has gained 1.3% at Rs 785 and Wipro has added 1.1% at Rs 405.

Bharti Airtel is seeing some profit-booking after soaring by around 8% in the previous trading session. The stock has slipped 0.2% at Rs 307.  And ONGC has shed 0.1% at Rs 1292.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 1953 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1524 advancing stocks as against 375 declines.