Markets open higher; pharma up & realty slide continues

Markets open higher on back of gains in pharma stocks. The Sensex surges 82 points to 19,227 and the Nifty gains 30 points to 5780.

After a steep correction seen in the past week, technical charts indicate that markets may bounce back this week. Ravi  Nathani, technical analyst said, "on charts index is trading in an oversold zone and technical bounce is expected; best strategy to trade would be hunt for opportunities to buy near weekly supports or at dips." Prakash Gaba said, "technically  the market is still in sell mode but looks like that the market may take a breather and so if a bounce could be expected after a strong down move but however 5930 is a strong resistance to deal with."

Asian markets were trading mixed, European Union agreement to pay 85 billion Euros ($112 Billion) in bailout package to Ireland bolstered sentiment, but tensions in South Korea continue to weigh.

The Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.3% on back of gains in exporter shares as Yen Softened. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.8%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.2% and South Korea's Seoul Composite and Straight times was off 0.2% in early trades. Property and Financial shares continue to weigh Asia. Taiwan Weighted gained 0.5%

Defensive pharma sector was the top gainer in the morning session, Ranbaxy laboratories gained 4.3%, Cadila Healthcare rose 1.3% and Divis Laboratories was up 1.2%.

Realty stocks continues to move negatively;  DB Realty lost 10%, Parsvanath Developers was down 6.3% and Unitech lost 5.4%.

Reliance Communication continued to face turbulent waves, the stock was down 3.2%, DLF was down 2% and Reliance Infra
was also off 2%, dragging the benchmark lower.

Some of the stocks making news this morning were Shipping Corporation of India up 0.3% as the follow-on public offer opens tomorrow, Tech Mahindra was down 0.2% as British Telecom prepares to exit Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Construction plunged 4.1% after challenging the MoEF order in court.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 1.9% followed by TCS and NTPC, up 1.7% each.

Broader markets were trading mixed, midcap index down 0.8% and smallcap index gained 0.5%.