It is another decent day for the markets. The Sensex has build on its 200-points gains on Monday by adding another 50-odd points this morning. The BSE benchmark is quoting at 18125, higher by 45 points and the Nifty is at 5444, up 12 points. The midcap index is at 7530, higher by 0.5% and the smallcap index is at 9491, up 0.6%.
In hindsight, though, our markets have not reacted much to the global situation. For we had woken up to a positive set of cues this morning, with the US stocks ending higher and Asian bourses looking firm as well. Wall Street closed at its highest level in 10 weeks on Monday as better-than-expected US data boosted optimism about economic recovery. The Dow gained 208 points, or 1.9% to 10,674 and Nasdaq rose 40 points, or 1.8% to 2,295. And the Asian markets have taken the cue; Hang Seng strengthened by 0.4% and Nikkei climbed 1.7% in early trades.
ICICI Bank is the leading gainer on the Sensex for the second straight day on the back of a 6.4% spurt on its ADR price overnight. The banking heavyweight is quoting at Rs 952, higher by 1.3%, on the BSE. Jaipraksash Associates is at Rs 119, higher by 0.8% and DLF is at Rs 305, up 0.6%. Maruti, ONGC and Tata Power are the other significant gainers on the BSE.
On the losers side, Mahindra & Mahindra is down nearly 1%, followed by ACC, Infosys, Sterlite and Reliance Infrastructure.
The market breadth is extremely positive, with 1203 stocks advances against only 471 declines.