Markets remain firm

The markets have held on to their gains in the past one hour.  The Sensex is now quoting at 17577, higher by 91 points and the Nifty is at 5251, up 25 points.

The bourses had opened in the positive, mirroring the gains in the US and firmness across Asia. The Dow had added 115 points and the Nasdaq had gained 32 points overnight, and the Asian indices are trading largely in the positive.

Bharti is the leading gainer on the Sensex, strengthening by 2.5% at Rs 328, Reliance Communication has added 1.9% at Rs 190 and ICICI Bank has gained by 1.5% at Rs 876.

The IT stocks are up, albeit off their morning highs. Wipro is trading up by 0.3% at Rs 739 after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 753 in morning trades. Infosys is trading higher by 0.7% at Rs 2654 and TCS has gained 0.4% at Rs 784.
   
Wipro reported a 21.3% rise in its Q3 consolidated net profit to Rs 1,217.40 crore for the quarter ended December 2009 against Rs 1,003.90 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

On the other hand, ONGC has weakened 0.8% at Rs 1187, Sterlite has shed 0.4% at Rs 864 and HDFC Bank has lost 0.4% at Rs 1770.

The oil marketing companies, including HPCL, BPCL and IOC, have shed 1-2% as the subsidy provided by the government is seen to be insufficient to tide over the accumulated losses.

The market breadth is strong. Out of 2402 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1696 advancing stocks as against 623 declines.