Markets on a firm ground

The markets continued to trade on a strong note in noon deals on the back of positive global cues and heavy buying in front-line stocks. The BSE Sensex was at 16,204, up 412 points and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 4,876 up 124 points. Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index has touched a high of 16,348.

According to Salil Sharma, technical analyst, partner kapursharma.com, "This recovery would be sustainable only if it gives a closing above 4,910 and the overall volumes for the day are above Rs 1,30,000 crore. This kind of closing today could lead to short covering which could take the Nifty up to 5150."

Most of the European markets have opened on a firm note. FTSE opened at 5,291, up 189 points, DAX opened higher by 172 points at 5,645 meanwhile the CAC index was in the red down 11 pointys at 3,064.

Back home, all the Sensex stocks barring Bharti Airtel were trading higher. Sterlite Industries was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 8% to Rs 113. Jindal Steel, Tata Motors, DLF, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, HDFC, Infosys, Reliance Industries,
Wipro and Coal India were also trading higher by 3.3%-7% each.


On the sectoral front, BSE Metal index was the top gainer. The index advanced 4.4% to 10,812. The surge in metal index can be attributed to London Metal Exchange's biggest single-day gain in percentage terms in the past twenty months on Thursday, encouraged by signs that Europe's debt crisis was being brought under control. Bankex advanced 3.7% to 10,335. Realty, IT, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas , Auto and FMCG indices also jumped 1.5%-3.3% each.

Sesa Goa, NMDC, Coal India, NALCO, JSW Steel, Bhushan Steel and SAIL were trading higher by  4%-8% each, and were the prominent gainers from the Metals' space. Among the banking stocks, Axis Bank was the top gainer, up 6.6% to Rs 1,015. Indusind Bank, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDBI Bank and Federal Bank were also among the key gainers.

Among individual stocks, Tech Mahindra jumped nearly 4% in trade today on reports that Bahrain-based telecom firm – Menatelecom – has awarded WiMAX managed services contracts to Tech Mahindra and Huawei Technologies for the year 2012-2013.

The broader markets were also trading higher. The BSE mid-cap index jumped 1.4% or 81 points to 5,960 and the small-cap index advanced 88 points to 6,732.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,807 stocks were advancing while 751 were declining on the BSE.