Markets open on a firm note

SBI extends Friday's rally

Markets have opened on a firm note in trades today. The Sensex opened at 16,213, up 60 points  and the Nifty opened above 4,900 levels at 4,913, up 22 points.

Most of the Asian markets are trading on a quiet note. The Shanghai is up 7 points at 2,351, Nikkei is up 23 points at 8,634. However, the Hang Seng is down 45 points at 18,907.

Back home, State Bank of India has extended its friday's rally post its better than expected quarterly results. The stocks is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 2.5% at 1,991. Meanwhile, the Bank of America Merrill fLynch has also upgraded the rating of this stock to 'Buy' with a target price of Rs 2,445.

DLF, Tata Power, HDFC, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and BHEL are also trading higher by 0.7-1.5% each.

On the other hand, Tata Steel is the top loser, the stock has slipped 2% to Rs 392 after the company reported a dip of as much as 90% in its consolidated net profit, at Rs 433.46 crore, for the last quarter of FY12. The corresponding profit figure for the same quarter a year ago was Rs 4,175.60 crore. Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Wipro and Gail India are also among the laggards in the opening deals.

The BSE realty index is the top sectoral gainer, up 1.2% or 18 points at 1,575. Bankex, consumer durables, PSU, power and capital goods indices have also opened higher by 0.6-1% each. At the same time, IT and teck indices have opened in the red.

The broader markets are trading flat in the opening deals. The BSE mid-cap index is up 25 points at 5,889 and the small-cap index is up 29 points at 5,285.

The overall market breadth is positive as 688 stocks are advancing while 303 are declining.