Markets pare gains, Sensex up 121pts

After trading steadily until noon, the markets pared their gains post-noon. The Sensex was up 121 points at 18,263, while the Nifty added 35 points at 5,464.

Larsen & Toubro continued to lead the gains on the Sensx up 3% at Rs 1,646, followed by Bharti Airtel at Rs 376, also up 3%, and Tata Power at Rs 1,240 and Cipla up 2% each.

FMCG major ITC, which is due to announce its Q4FY11 a little later in the day today, slipped 1% at Rs 187, while Reliance COmmunications at Rs 83 shed 0.5%. Infosys at rs 2,835 and ONGC at Rs 276 slipped 0.4% each.

In the broader markets, the Mid-cap index slowed down to add 0.4% at 6,741, while the Small-cap index was up 0.6% at 8,191.

L&T's gains rubbed off on the Capital Goods index, which was trading up 2% at 13,158, followed by the Healthcare counter at 6,121 and the Power index at 2,559 both up 1% each.

The Oil & Gas index lodged a 0.6% decline to 9,240 in the noon session, while the PSU index slipped 0.5% to 8,370.

With 1,467 avances versus 1,051 declines on the BSE, the market breadth remained positive.