Markets firm, ICICI Bank jumps 5%

Markets continue to trade on a firm note in noon deals. The Sensex is up 215 points at 15,389 and the Nifty has jumped 63 points at 4,607. Earlier in the day, the markets had witnessed a gap-up opening on the back of strong global cues and the Sensex had touched a high of 15,495.

ICICI Bank is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stock has jumped 5% to Rs 685 after after 17% fall in past eleven trading days on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). BHEL is also trading higher by 3.4% to Rs 236. Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC, Tata Power and Maruti Suzuki are also trading higher by 2.4-3.3% each.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Coal India, TCS, Wipro and Cipla are among the notable losers on the benchmark index.

Among individual stocks, NDTV is trading higher by 5% to Rs 26.60 after Oswal group promoted, Oswal Green Tech, formerly Oswal Chemicals & Fertilizers, acquired 14.17% stake in the company through open market purchase for Rs 24.24 crore.

Ranbaxy Laboratories is trading lower by 2% at Rs 389, weighed by the huge outflow of funds, after the pharmaceutical company said it will make a $500 million provision to end a long-running compliance dispute with U.S. authorities.

GTL group stocks- GTL and GTL Infra have rallied more than 15% each on reports that the management of GTL group has resolved all differences to finalise a comprehensive debt restructuring plan for its group companies.

Buying is visible across the board. Consumer Durables, banking and oil & gas stocks are among the top sectoral gainers. BSE Consumer Durables index has advanced nearly 3% to 5,234 levels. Bankex and Oil & Gas indices have also added 2.3 and 1.6% each respectively. Power, metal, auto, realty, capital goods and PSU stocks are also among the top gainers, up 1-1.5% each.

Titan Industries is the top gainer among the consumer durable stocks, up 5.4% to Rs 164. Whirlpool, VIP Industries, Videocon, Rajesh Exports, TTK Prestige and Gitanjali Gems are also trading higher. Among the banking stocks, Bank of Baroda is the top gainer, followed by Canara Bank, Axis Bank, Union Bank, Bank of India and HDFC Bank.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices have also added over 0.6% each.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,428 stocks are advancing while 1050 are declining.