Markets remain firm, Bharti Airtel rebounds

The Indian markets have opened on a firm note with investors eyeing on RBI's Monetary Policy review to be released today.

By 9:40 the Sensex was up 125 points at 15,961 and the 50-share Nifty up 37 points at 4784.

Markets may remain cautious ahead of the mid-quarter Monetary Policy review by the RBI today. Analysts expect the central bank to keep key rates steady.

Asian shares edged up and the euro slunk higher on Friday, as signs of strength in the US economy temporarily broke through gloom over the European debt crisis that had driven a sell-off in riskier assets over the past three days.

US stocks rose modestly on Thursday, after a fall in US unemployment data, a stronger-than-expected rise in regional factory activity and better-than-forecast results from FedEx Corp painted an improving picture of the economy.

Japan's Nikkei share average gained 0.4 per cent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 per cent.

Back home, technical analysts peg the support for the Nifty at 4,700 and expect it to face resistance at 4,850 – 4,950 levels. At 710 a-m Indian Standard Time, the SGX Nifty was trading at 4,746; down 19 points.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty index has spurted by 2% followed by counters like Banks, Auto, Metal, Power and Consumer Durable, all gaining by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Technology index has declined by 1%.

Bharti Airtel is the top gainers on the Sensex after witnessing a sharp fall yesterday. Tata Power, Hindalco, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, SBI, M&M nad DLF have surged between 2-3%.

On the losing side, IT heavyweights like Wipro, TCS and Infosys have fallen between 0.3-1%.

The broader indices too are witnessing some buying demand – BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 1% each. The market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 879 advancing and 317 shares declining.