Asian stocks markets ended higher as earnings from

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and CSL Ltd which boosted investor optimism. Key benchmark indices in Singapore and South Korea rose by 0.94-1.56 per cent while Japan's Nikkei Average fell 1.04 per cent. Moving to the local market, 17 scrips out of the 30-share sensex pack declined while 13 finished with gains. Major gainers were HDFC (1.79 pc), M&M (1.59 pc), TCS (1.58 pc), Infosys (1.26 c), ICICI Bank (1.19 pc), Bharti Airtel (1.18 pc) and ONGC (1.08 pc). However, Sterlite Ind (2.79 pc), followed by Bajaj Auto (2.75 pc), Tata Power (2.68 pc), Tata Steel (2.18 pc), Gail India (1.96 pc), SBI (1.83 pc), Hindalco (1.82 pc), BHEL (1.53 pc), Maruti Suzuki (1.48 pc), HUL (1.26 pc) and Cipla (1.22 pc) were among major Sensex losers. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-IT rose by 1.29 per cent and BSE-Teck 0.98 per cent, while BSE-Power fell by 1.56 per cent, BSE-Metal 1.25 per cent, BSE-Realty 1.15 per cent and BSE-CG 0.89 per cent. The market breadth continued to show negative trend as 1,229 scrips ended lower, while 892 stocks finished higher and 852 ruled steady. The total turnover improved to Rs 2,041.36 crore from Rs 1,971.57 crore yesterday. Foreign institutional investors FIIs) seemed to have slowed their buying as they picked up shares worth Rs 1.70 crore yesterday as per SEBI data.