Markets gain on global cues

Markets opened strong on global cues as fears of Greece's crisis subdued due to Spain's austerity measures.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,389 but slipped in late-noon trades as investors booked profits in select index stocks. The index touched a low of 17,240 - down 149 points from the day's high.

The Sensex finally ended at 17,266 - up 70 points.

The Nifty ended at 5,179 -  up 22 points.

Global markets were in green. US markets gained on tech shares. The Dow ended at 10896, stronger by 148 points or 1.3%, Nasdaq ended at 2425, higher by 49 points or 2% and S&P shut shop at 1171, up 15 points or 1.3%.

Markets had been lacklustre for some days as investors feared the crisis in Greece could come in the way of global economic recovery and spread to other parts of Europe.

Food Inflation rose to 16.44 per cent for the week ended May 1, mainly due to high prices of fruits and vegetables. Inflation rose by 0.40 per cent from 16.04 per cent in the previous week.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices outperformed the broader markets. The mid-cap index jumped 1.2% to 7,018 while the small-cap added 09% to 8,934.

Among the sectoral indices the realty and auto index gained over 2% each at 3,374 and 7,889, respectively. However teh metal index dropped over 300 points from its high and ended finally at 16,466. Oil index was also in red as heavyweight, Reliance dropped.

Reliance pared early gains and ended with nearly 1% loss at Rs 1072. Tata Steel dropped 1.5% to Rs 575.

Telecom stocks were in red following the TRAI recommendation on spectrum management and the licensing framework for access service provision. Bharti Airtel slipped 1% to Rs 258. Reliance Communications was marginally in red.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors gained 3.5% at Rs 831. Mahindra & Mahindra surged 3.5% at Rs 565.

Infrastructure stocks jumped. DLF added 3% to Rs 306. Reliance Infrastructure added 2.7% to Rs 1,078. Jaiprakash Associates advanced 2% to Rs 133.

Cement stocks were in green. ACC and Grasim advanced around 1% each to Rs 890 and Rs 2630, respectively.

ONGC, ICICI Bank, HDFC, TCS and Larsen & Toubro were the other big gainers.

The BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,981 stocks traded, 1,745 advanced while 1,125 declined.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS:

Bharti Airtel has topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 136.14 crore, followed by JSW Steel (Rs 104.44cr), Tata Steel (Rs 92.29 crore), SBI (Rs 86.51 crore) and Tata Motors (Rs 81.25 cr).

The volume chart was led by Birla Power with trades of over 17.68 million shares, followed by Nitesh Estates (15.39 million), IFCI (5.21 million) and Bharti Airtel (5.16 million).