Markets stay near day's high

Markets have retained their strength. The Sensex is up 333 points at 17,903. The Nifty is up 99 points at 5,361. The indices have hit their highest since April 2010.

Investors were hopeful of a loosening of the yuan's de facto peg to teh greenback by China's central bank.

The BSE mid cap and small cap indices have also gained substantially. The mid-cap index is up 1.3% at 7,067.

Among the mid-cap stocks, Edelweiss Capital has soared 11% to Rs 470. Mahindra Lifespace has gained 7.8% to Rs 465. Andrew Yule is up 5.6% at Rs 34.

Tata Tea, Gee Kay Finance, Max India and HCL Infosystems are the other big mid-cap gainers.

The small cap index has jumped 1.4% at 8,970.

Small cap gainers are being led by Hindustan Motors. The stock has zoomed 17% to Rs 24. IVR Prime and Best & Crompton have gained 10% each to Rs 140 and Rs 20.30, respectively.

Other small-cap gainers include Lloyds Metal, Ashapura Mine and VIP Industries.

BSE market breadth continues to be positive with 69% stocks advancing and 38% declining out of a total of 2,865 stocks traded.