Sensex steady around 18,200; breadth +ve

The Sensex continued to trade near the 18,200 levels. The Sensex was up 185 points at 18,207 and the S&P CNX Nifty added 44 points at 5461.

Most of the Asian markets ended the day on a positive note, the Nikkei ended at 10,457 up 182 points, Taiwan closed at 9145 higher by 43 points, Shanghai ended on a flat note at 2799 higher by 8 points and the Hang Seng was higher by 426 points at 23,908.

The overall breadth remained positive as 1644 stocks advanced while 1087 stocks declined.

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(Updated at 12.30 PM)

The markets have come off their morning highs in the last hour of trade on back of mild selling pressure witnessed by power and capital goods stocks.

At 1230 hrs the Sensex was at 18,213 higher by 194 points and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 5462 up 42 points.

TCS was the top gainer on the Sensex, the stocks was trading higher by 3.5% at Rs 1190, Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries and index heavyweight Reliance Industries were trading higher by 3% each. DLF, Bharti Airtel, Jaiprakash Associates, ICICI Bank, Infosys and ONGC were also among the gainers. On the other hand Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Tata Power, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank were among the losers.

On the sectoral front the Oil & Gas index was the top gainer the index was higher by 211 points or 2.2% at 9494. IT, Realty and Teck indices were also up 2% each. Metal, Auto, PSU and BSE Banking index- Bankex were higher by 0.45-1.3% each. Meanwhile power and capital goods stocks witnessed mild seling pressure. The BSE Power index was down 10 points at 2691 and the Capital Goods index was lower by a point at 13,186.

Reliance Industries was thwe top gainer on the Oil & Gas index the stock added 3% and was at Rs 922. Bharat Petroleum, ONGC, Indian Oil, Cairn India, Oil India and GAIL were also among the gainers.

Among the Realty stocks Unitec, Godrej Properties, DLF, HDIL, Parsvanath Developers, Orbit Corp and Mahindra Lifespace were among the top gainers.

The broader markets were also trading higher, the BSE mid-cap index was at 6792 up 36 points and the small-cap index was higher by 48 points at 8404.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1639 stocks advanced while 1022 stocks declined.