Markets hold gains; auto index lead rally

The market continues to hold gains as realty and auto stocks advance. The Sensex is now at 17,317, up 121 points. The food inflation for the week ended May 1 mainly due to high prices of fruits and vegetables. The Sensex is now at 17,324, up 128 points and the NSE Nifty has slipped below the 5,200 levels and is now at 5,193, up 36 points.

Among the Sensex-30 scrips, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have advanced 4% to Rs 569 and Rs 831, respectively.

Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Infrastrcuture have added 3% each at Rs 135 and Rs 1,027, respectively.

The other major gainers are DLF, ONGC, ICICI Bank, TCS and Bharti Airtel are up 1-2% each.

While Wipro and Tata Steel are the marginal losers on the BSE.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,859 shares traded, 1,889 have advanced and 865 have declined so far on the BSE.

The midcap and the smallcap indices are up 1% each on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, realty is the major gainer, up 3% and auto has gained 2%, respectively.

Indiabulls realestate has added 5% and HDIL is up 3% on the realty index