Markets strong on positive Asian peers

Markets remain strong . The Sensex is up 133 points at 17,640 and Nifty is at 5,300, up 42 points on the back of positive Asian markets.

The Asian markets have gained further. China’s Shanghai and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng are up 0.5% each, Japan’s Nikkei is up nearly 1%, Straits Times and Taiwan are up over 0.5% each.

RIL has pushed Sensex by almost 40 points in today’s trade. HDFC has contributed 20 points, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS and Bharti Airtel over 10 points each. BHEL and ONGC continue in the red, though have recovered, down over 0.5% each.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Hindalco, IDFC, M&M have gained between 1 and 2% each on Nifty.

A report from HDFC Securities expects the markets to remain rangebound for most part of the day. Among the sectors, Banking stocks could do well today while Metals and Oil & Gas could underperform.

All sectoral indices, barring consumer durables and realty, are positive. Oil & gas (up over 1%) and rate sensitives like bank and auto indices (up 1% each) led the pull-back. RIL (up 2%) has led the oil & gas stocks. Axis Bank is the biggest gainer (up over 2%), followed by Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank (each up over 1%). Realty, consumer durables down on profit booking.

Broader markets remain positive. CNX Midcap Index, BSE Small Cap indices up over 35 points each. Market breadth is extremely positive with more than 1,300 advancing and 970 declining.

Big losers of GTL, GTL Infra, Reliance Communication and Reliance Infra have bounced back after yesterday’s fall. IDFC, which has been in the red for a week, is back in the green.