Nifty tops 5,600 mark, BHEL zooms 11%

Markets have extended their gains with the Sensex and the Nifty crossing the important 18,400 mark and 5600 levels, respectively. The strong rally is supported by global markets, power companies and capital goods shares.

At 11:30, the Sensex was up 218 points at 18,371 and they Nifty gained 67 points at 5,589 levels.

On the global front, Asian shares rebounded on Friday on signs euro zone officials will soon approve a long-awaited bailout for Greece, reducing the risk of a debt default, and after jobs and manufacturing data pointed to a healthier US economy. Hang Seng, Nikkei, Strait Times and Shanghai Compsoitive have gained between 1-2%.

Back home, BHEL is the top Sensex gainer, up 11% on back of huge volumes. L&T has zoomed by over 3%.

Shares of power generation companies extended their rally for the third day in a row after the Prime Minister has approved suggestions made by the Secretary level Committee for solving the issue of coal deficit faced by power sector. Tata Power and NTPC have gained between 3-5%.

From the banking space, SBI has gained by almost 3%. ICICI Bank has gained by nearly 2%.

DLF has gained by almost 4%. Realty stocks have rallied on expectations that the central bank will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy.

IT stocks like Infosys and TCS have incrased by almost 1% each.

The broader markets are perfomining in line with the benchmark indices. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained by nearly 1% each. 

The overall market breadth remains positive as 1,671 stocks are advancing while 903 are declining.