Markets retain gains as heavyweights advance

The gains were on the back of Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma

Markets continue to trade higher with the Sensex up 149 points at 19,853 while the Nifty continued to hover around the 6,020 levels at 1300hrs. The gains were mainly on the back of Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma.

In the broader markets, the midcap index was up 0.7%, in line with the BSE benchmark index while the smallcap index gained 0.6%.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto and Capital Goods were the only indices in the red, losing 0.5-0.7%.

On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Health Care and Tech indices gained 1-1.6%.

IT, Bankex, Metal, Power and Realty indices too were trading higher by 0.2-0.7%.

The top gainer among the Sensex-30 was index heavyweight, Reliance Industries, advancing over 4% on reports that the company and its partners BP and NIKO have struck a significant gas and condensate discovery in the KG D6 block.

Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel up 3.5-3.8% were the other major gainers.

HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS, Dr Reddys Lab and NTPC up 1-1.4% too were trading in the green.

Among the ones in the red, auto names like Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki were down 1.7-2%.

Cipla, ONGC, L&T, Tata Steel and Tata Power down 0.3-1.4% were the other draggers.

In individual stocks, Crompton Greaves slipped over 4% to Rs 92.15 after reporting a sharp 75% year-on-year fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 25 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 due to poor performance from its power division.

AstraZeneca Pharma India moved higher by 4% to Rs 720, bouncing back 11% from intra-day’s low ahead of its promoter AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB Sweden stake sale plan through offer-for-sale tomorrow.

The market breadth was positive. 1,122 stocks advanced while 930 stocks declined on the BSE.