Markets continue to trade in the positive territory in late morning deals, amid positive Asian cues, led by index heavyweights like SBI, ITC, RIL and L&T. The Sensex was up 136 points at 16,354 and the Nifty added 42 points at 4,962.
In the broader markets, the Midcap and the Smallcap indices outperformed logging in 0.8% as compared to the 0.6% in The BSE benchmark index.
Navneet Daga, Derivative Analyst, KR Choksey Securities expects Nifty to face stiff resistance near 4950-55 zone, and will try to consolidate in near term in broad range of 4800-5000 in the near term.
In the Asian markets, except Jakarta Composite down 4% all the markets gained with Taiwan Weighted, Hang Seng, Kospi and Straits added between 0.4-0.8%. Japan's Nikkei average steadied up 0.1% after marking eight straight weeks of declines.
Back home, among the sectoral indices, Capital Goods, Bankex, Power and Metal indices up 1% each were leading the gains. IT index remained flat with a negative bias.
The movers in the Capital Goods space were Havells India, Praj Inds, BHEL, BEML and L&T up 1.5-4%. Meanwhile SBI and Bank of India up 2% each were the top gainers among the banking stocks.
The gainers among the Sensex stocks were Tata Power, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Cipla, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel up 1-2%. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries added 1.2%.
Among the losers were Gail India, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC and TCS down 0.2-2%
JK Cement soared 11% at Rs 140 on reporting a healthy 50% year-on-year surged in net profit at Rs 80.34 crore for the quarter ended March, on the back of higher realization and rise in other income.
The market breadth was positive. 1451 stocks advanced while 730 stocks declined.