European markets push Sensex to day's high

After dropping to day's low in the early afternoon trades, the BSE benchmark index has shot back into the positive territory. This turnaround was possible due to the strong opening in the European markets. Currently the Sensex is at 18,668 up 161 points which is the day's high and the Nifty added 50 points at 5,617.

However, the broader markets are exhibiting a mixed reaction to this turnaround. The smallcap index is up 0.7% outperforming the midcap index which is up nearly 0.5% and the Sensex added 0.6%

The European markets opened higher as the optimism over company earnings replaced last week's concerns over European bank stress tests. DAX is up 1%, CAC opened higher at 0.8% while FTSE added 0.5%

Among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables has gained nearly 2% followed by the IT index which surged 1% in the afternoon trades. Realty index which was in the negative for the major part of the day has moved into the positive territory, gaining nearly 0.3%.  However, Auto index continues to languish in the negative, down 0.2%

The top gainers among the Sensex stocks are NTPC up nearly 2% followed by Sterlite, TCS, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, L&T, SBI and Bharti Airtel adding 1% each.

Tata Motors down nearly 3% continues to be the top loser followed by Hero Honda, Maruti Suzuki and Hindustan Unilever down 0.2-0.5%

The market breadth is very positive. 1561 stocks gave advanced as compared to 1128 declines.