Sensex touches 18K

The markets have extended gains with the Sensex crossing the 18,000 mark with a 273 points gains and the Nifty too advanced past 5,400 gaining 81 points.
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(Updated at 1035 hrs)
After a strong opening, the BSE benchmark index continues to trade higher with the index up 192 points at 17,920 and the Nifty gained 57 points at 5,377. The broader markets were no exceptions. In line with the Sensex, the smallcap and the midcap indices gained ground, up 1.2% each. Four scrips namely Infosys, ICICI Bank, TCS and SBI have added 108 points in the 192 points gain seen on the Sensex.

The major mover among the sectoral indices is the IT index up 2% followed by PSU, Bankex and Auto indices gaining over 1.7%. However, the Consumer Durables which started strong has slipped into the negative, down 1.2%. The dragger in the space was Titan Industries down 3%.

All the ten scrips in the IT index have advanced. The top gainers here are TCS, Financial Technologies, Wipro and HCL Technologies up 2% each. The IT index had been underperforming for quiet some time and this week the index had touched a nine month low.

The gainers among the Sensex stocks are Hero Honda up 3.5% followed by TCS, SBI, ONGC and Reliance Communications adding 2% each.

Among the losers are RIL and Maruti Suzuki down 1% each.

The markets breadth is very positive. Of the total 2330 scrips traded on the BSE, 1631 stocks have advanced while 612 declined.