Sensex steady around 18,400, up 300pts

The positive trend continued in the past one hour of trade and the markets ignored the hike in inflation. The Sensex was at 18,380 up 289 points and the Nifty was higher by 78 points at 5510.

The food inflation for the week ended January 22 rose to 17.05% and the fuel price index jumped to 11.61%.

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(Updated at 12.40)

The markets continued to trade on a positive note in the past one hour of trade. The Sensex was higher by  310 points at 18,400 and the S&P CNX Nifty crossed the crucial 5500 mark, at 5515 higher by 83 points.

According to Deepak Singh Tanwar, a Mumbai based technical analyst, "the index has shown smart improvement and the undertone seems to be suggesting that it will be able to cross this resistance. One the down side, the breach of 5400 is likely to attract more selling".

All the stocks on the benchmark were trading in the positive territory with DLF being the top gainer on the Sensex, the stock was trading higher by 5.6% at RS 239. Hindalso, J P Associates, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Reliance Infrastructure, Bharti Airtel and Hero Honda were also trading higher by 2.6-4% each.

On the sectoral charts the BSE Realty index was the top gainer consecutively for the second day, the index was higher by 2.5% or 55 points at 2245, followed by Capital Goods, Metal, Bankex, Auto, PSU and Teck indices up 1.2-2.2% each.

DLF, HDIL, Indiabulls Real Estate, Orbit Corp, D B Realty, Godrej Properties, Peninsula Land and Ackruti City. On the Capital Goods charts Larsen & Toubro was the top gainer the stock added 3.3% at Rs 1623, Lakshmi Machine Works, Usha Martin, BHEL, Praj Industries, Punj Lloyd and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure were among the gainers.

The broader markets were also trading higher, the BSE mid-cap index was higher by 45 points at 6799 and the small-cap index added 62 points at 8424.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1617 stocks advanced while 1018 stocks declined.