Smallcaps, midcaps outperform; Bankex gains

After a positive start, the Sensex pared its gains to momentarily slip  below 19,000 mark  but quickly regained its lost ground. The index is up 63 points at 19,070 and the Nifty added 22 points at 5,718. In the broader markets, the smallcaps up 0.9% and the midcaps up 0.7%  are outperforming the BSE benchmark index which gained 0.3%.

Amomg the BSE sectoral indices, Consumer Durables and Bankex has inched ahaed, gaining 1% each closely followed by Metal and PSU indices. IT and Oil & Gas down 0.3% and 0.2% respectively continue to trade in the negative.The movers in the banking space are Bank Of Baroda, Axis Bank and SBI gaining nearly 3% each.

SBI, Sterlite, HDFC and Tata Steel up 2% each are the top gainers on the Sensex followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, BHEL, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever and NTPC adding 1% each.

On the losers list are Wipro, RIL, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Communications and Hindalco lost 0.5% - 1% in the morning trades.

The market breadth is very positive. Of the total 2486 stocks traded on the BSE, 1754 stocks have advanced while 654 have declined.