Markets recover on positive global cues

ONGC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC among the top gainers

Markets recover in noon deals on the back of positive global cues with China stocks staging a strong recovery after hitting lowest since 2009 along with positive European markets. At 1245 hrs, the Sensex was up 208 points at 18,749 and the Nifty advanced 57 points at 5,647.

However, the broader markets remained in the negative territory with both the mid and smallcap indices losing 0.3-0.4% as compared to the 1% gain on the BSE benchmark index.

In Asia, Chinese shares tumbled deeper into bear market territory on Tuesday, dragging down other Asian bourses, as worries spread that a cash squeeze could threaten China's economic growth and take the shine off an emerging US recovery.

Shanghai shares slumped more than 6% at one point to their lowest since early 2009, briefly pulling Hong Kong into the red, with losses accelerating for mid-sized banks as mainland inter-bank rates started climbing again. At the close, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.2%.

The broad-based slump in Chinese shares drove MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down as much as 1.2%, extending Monday's 1.8% slide to hit an 11-month low. The turmoil took its toll on Japanese equities, where sentiment had been boosted by a recently-resumed trend in yen weakness. The Nikkei stock average gave up early gains to slip 0.7%.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, only Consumer Durables, IT and Health Care indices were i the red, down 0.1-0.3%. On the gaining side were Oil & Gas, Realty, Bankex, PSU, Capital Goods, FMCG and Metal indices, up 0.5-2.5%.

The only losers among the Sensex-30 were Wipro, Maruti Suzuki down 1% each along with SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Dr Reddys Lab, Infosys and Tata Power losing 0.1-0.85%.

Among the major gainers were ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC edging higher by 2-4%.

The market breadth was negative. 1,144 stocks declined while 840 stocks advanced on the BSE.