Firm trades continue

The markets edged higher in late-morning trades with the BSE Sensex at 17,284, up 225 points and the Nifty at 5,254, up 75 points.

Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index touched the day's high at 17,308 and the day's low at 17,105.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average  eased for a third straight session on Friday as investors locked in profits from the strongest first quarter rally in 24 years, while market participants awaited key global events next week. The index is at 10,063, down 0.51%. The Hang Seng index has shed 0.57% while the Shanghai Composite index has gained 0.35%.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty, Metal, Bankex and Oil & gas indices, up 2% each, are the leading the gains.

DB Realty, HDIL and Unitech, up 4-7% each, are the prominent gainers from the Realty space.

From among the Metal stocks, Bhushan Steel, Hindalco Industries, Sesa Goa and Steel Authority of India, up 3-4% each, are the prominent gainers.

Hindalco Industries has moved up 3% Rs 128.9 and is the top gainer on the Sensex. Gail (India), Tata Steel, ICICI Bank and Tata Power, up 2-3% each, are the other notable gainers. The only losers from the pack are Sun Pharma Industries and Hindustan Unilever, down marginally.

From among individual stocks, HPCL is trading higher by 6% at Rs 300 after Hindustan Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), a joint venture between the company and Lakshmi Mittal’s Mittal Energy, said all units at the 180,000 barrel per day (bpd) Bathinda plant are commissioned.

Tata Motors is trading higher by 1.23% at Rs 275.30 in early trades after it announced plans to invest Rs 600 crore to develop Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICV) and set up a manufacturing plant for rolling out FICVs for the Indian Army.

IVRCL Ltd is trading higher by 3% at Rs 66.50, extending its previous day’s 8% rally on reports of takeover of the company by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group. On Monday, Subhash Chandra-promoted Essel Group announced a strategic 10.19% investment in the company by picking up an additional 14 million shares from the open market using two group investment vehicles Asian Satellite and Jay Properties.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,705 stocks have advanced against 611 declining ones, on the BSE.