The markets are off day's high, mainly on account of weakness in metal stocks. The Sensex which touched a high of 18,440, is now up 141 points at 18,338.
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(Updated at 0920 hrs)
The markets had a gap-up opening with the Sensex and the Nifty gaining 1% each in opening trades. The Sensex started the week at 18,416, up 219 points and the Nifty added 66 points at 5,547. This is in line with the resurgent global markets as President Barack Obama announced a last-minute deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default.
The first phase of the two-stage plan announced by the President called for about $1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. The next $1.5 trillion in savings must be found by a special congressional committee by the end of December.
In the Asian markets,Nikkei average surged as much as 2%, climbing back above 10,000 for the first time in three days on short-covering and futures-led buying.The other major gainers are Hang Seng, Jakarta Composite and Seoul Composite adding over 1% each.
In the broader markets, the midcap index is up 1% while the smallcap index is trailing with a 0.7% gain in the opening trades.
Among the sectoral indices, rate sensitives like Realty, Bankex and Auto, up 1-2% are leading the gains. However, the Metal index, after being one of the top losers through the last week continues to trade weak. The index is up 0.1% at 14,036. The movers in the realty space are Sunteck Realty up 6% followed by Unitech, DLF and Anant Raj Industries gaining 2-4%.
The top gainers among the Sensex stocks are HDFC, Jaiprakash Associates, ICICI Bank, Reliance Communications, Tata Motors and Hindalco adding between 1.5-2%.
Jindal Steel down 2% is the only loser among the Sensex stocks.
The market breadth is very positive. Of the total 1482 stocks traded on the BSE, 1048 stocks have advanced while 373 declined.
Meanwhile, the Monsoon session of the Indian Parliament will commence from today amid a string of controversies facing the government. Also, The Group of Ministers on coal are likely to meet tomorrow to discuss six coal projects allotted to firms like ADAG, Essar and the Aditya Birla Group , which have been stalled due to pending environmental approvals, among others.