Markets remain strong

Markets continued to trade on a strong note in the mid-morning deals on back of buying visible across the sectors and positive global cues. The Sensex was at 18,715, up 280 points and the S&P CNX Nifty has gained 75 points at 5,617 levels.

According to Shailesh Kadam, AVP, Institutional Derivatives, PINC Research,    "Markets will keep moving in tight range of 5,540-5,700 till the policy announcement which will happen on Tuesday."

The Asian markets were also trading higher. Taiwan advanced 48 points to 8,765, Nikkei gained 122 points at 10,132 and the Hang Seng was at 2,351, up 364 points.

Back home, on the NSE benchmark index- Nffty, 49 stocks were advancing while only one stock was declining. Bharti Airtel was the top gainer among the Nifty stocks. The stock advanced nearly 3% to Rs 406. Tata Power has gained 2.7% to Rs 1,320. Ambuja Cement, SAIL, IDFC, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and Infosys were also among the gainers, up 1.8-2.5% each. Sesa Goa was the only loser, down 0.2% at Rs 277.

On the sectoral front all the sectoral indices were trading higher. CNX Infra index was the top sectoral gainer, up 1.6% at 3,109 levels.
CNX IT index advanced 1.5% or 98 points to 6,434. Banking, Energy, Realty and FMCG stocks also witnessed buying in today's trade sofar.

Tata Power was the top gainer among the infra stocks. It was followed by Mundra Port, Idea, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, J P Associates, Reliance Infrastructure and Suzlon, up 1.2-3% each.

The broader markets were also trading on a strong note. Nifty Mid-cap index advanced 1% or 26 points to 2,468 and the Nifty Junior gained nearly 1% or 94 points at 11,234.