Markets set to close higher

The markets have begun the week on an optimistic note. Putting behind the mayhem of the previous week, which saw the benchmark Sensex losing a whopping 820 points or 4.1% in four trading sessions to settle at 19,136 on Friday, the Sensex has jumped 249 points at 19383 and the Nifty has gained 68 points at 5820 in noon trades. Only time would tell whether this is merely a technical pullback from the intermittent lows of the last week or the beginning of a reversal of the downtrend that has now lasted for three weeks. But atleast for the current day, the indices seem headed for a happy ending, sans any last-minute gliches.

The selling pressures have eased on the broader market front as well. Both the midcap and smallcap indices, which have been reeling under selling pressure throughout last week and the earlier part of this session, have recouped their intra-day losses on the back of a rebound in the realty space.

On the global front, the US and European stocks had sold off on Friday amid concerns that an Irish financial bailout, amounting to 85 billion euros ($112 billion), will fail to stem Europe’s debt crisis. But Asian markets began the day on a composed note in a belated reaction to the bailout for Ireland, although the gains were tempered by the escalating war of words between the two Koreas.  And European markets have gained upto a percent each in mid-day trades.

The credit for the stellar performance of the day goes to the oil&gas sector. RIL has rallied 3.8% at Rs 999 to emerge as the leading gainer on the Sensex and Cairn has soared 6.3% at Rs 313. And the IT sector has added to its recent gains, with Wipro jumping 2.8% at Rs 418, TCS adding 2.6% at Rs 1073 and Infosys gaining 1% at Rs 3072.

There is no respite for the ADAG companies, though. Reliance Infra has lost 3.5% at Rs 820 and RCom has lost 1.3% at Rs 138.

And the market breadth is marginally negative; Out of 3011 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1398 advancing stocks as against 1540 declines.