The markets have heralded the new month with a one rally of nearly one percent, mirroring the gains across Asia. The Sensex is quoting at 18020, stronger by 152 points and the Nifty is at 5411, higher by 44 points. The midcap index is at 7470, higher by 62 points and the smallcap index is at 9430, higher by 81 points.
The Asian markets opened in the green this morning, with the Hang Seng adding 229 points and Nikkei gaining 118 points in early trades. The US markets had closed flat over the weekend; the Dow dropped one point to 10,465 and the Nasdaq gained three points to 2,254.
The leading gainers on the BSE are ICICI Bank (strengthened by 2.5% at Rs 927), Bharti Airtel (gained 2% at Rs 313) and DLF (added 1.6% at Rs 306). Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Motors are the other significant gainers. And index heavyweight RIL has inched higher by 0.8% at Rs 1017.
Infosys is the only loser among the Sensex-30 scrips. The IT bellweather is trading flat, with a negative bias, at Rs 2788.
The market breadth is positive. Out of 1700 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1369 advancing stocks as against 302 declines.