Market continue to trade higher

Markets are trading marginally higher led by gains in frontline stocks. The Nifty has added 11 points at 5478 and the Sensex has risen 52 points at 18272.

SBI is up 18 points at 2641, Infosys is up 25 points at 2892 and ITC is up 2 points at 156, contributing 50 points to the Sensex. On the other hand, heavyweight ICICI Bank (down 9 points at 961) and ONGC (down 12 points at 1252) are putting pressure on the indices.

Realty index, up 1.14%, continues to outperform markets, led by gains in midcap realty company Anant Raj Industry (up 5% at Rs 123) and DB Realty (up 1.9%).

The broader markets are also trading firm; the midcap index is up 0.5% and the smallcap index has risen 0.72%. From the midcap space, Wockhardt, UTV software, Berger paints and Britannia are trading higher by over 5%, jubilant foods trades’ surges 4.9%. Among the smallcap companies, Bombay Burmah is up 15%, followed by Maharashtra Scooter, up 9.7% and Halonix, up 9.45%.

Oil & Gas is leading the losses among sectoral indices, down 0.32%; Gail India (down 2% at Rs 432), ONGC (down 0.9% at Rs 1252) and RNRL (down 0.75% at Rs 40) are the major losers in this space.

The market breadth is positive; for every 1721 advancing stocks, there are 947 declines.