Markets pare gains

The markets have pared considerable gains in the last few minutes taking cues from the European markets. The Sensex which touched a high of 20,706 in early trades is now up 74 points at 20,519. The Nifty is up 23 points at 6167.

Meanwhile, the European markets are trading 0.5% lower, the french index CAC is lower by 45 points at 3646 and FTSE is down 38 points at 5553.

Back home, the broader markets - the Mid-cap index is up 0.74% or 60 points at 8274 and the Small-cap index is up 12 points at 10,476.

Bhushan Steel leads the rally among the Mid-caps, the stock is up more than 15% at Rs 502 followed by Uco Bank, Manappuram General Finance and leasing and Edelweiss Capital up more than 6% each.

Among the Small-cap stocks VIP Industries is the top gainer, trading at Rs 732 up nearly 17% followed by Sujana Metal, Kewal Metal, Best and Crompton and Ganesh Housing up more than 10% each.

Meanwhile, all the sectoral indices are trading in the green. BSE Consumer Durables index is the top sectoral gainer up 1.69% or 109 points at 6543 followed by Realty index up 1.25% or 48 points at 3925 points, Auto, Healthcare, Bankex, Oil & Gas and Metal indices up more than 0.5% each.

VIP Industries is the top gainer among the Consume Durables stocks followed by Rajesh Exports, Whirlpool and Titan industries.

Mahindra & Mahindra is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks followed by RCom, ICICI Bank, J P Associates, and Wipro up more than 1.8% each

However some profit booking is visible in Sterlite Industries, L&T, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Power and NTPC.