Markets consolidating gains

Realty, bankex and metal indices among the top sectoral gainers

Markets are in a consolidation mode in the noon deals. The Sensex is up 114 points at 16,574 and the 50-share Nifty has advanced 24 points to 5,021 levels. in intra-day deals so far the Sensex touched the high of 16,621 levels.

Meanwhile, the European markets have opened marginally higher. The CAC40 index is up 7 points at 3,065, DAX was at 6,099, up 5 points and the FTSE is up, 9 points at 5,393 levels.

Asian markets ended the day in the green Nikkei advanced 1.2% to close at 8,639, Hang Seng was up 0.6% at 18,631 and the Taiwan Weighted ended flat at 7,080 levels.

Back home, index heavyweight Reliance Industries is among the gainers on the Sensex, up 1% to Rs 721. Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries is held its 38th Annual General Meeting today. He emphasized said that partnerships will be key to Reliance Industries' future growth and the group would partner global leaders across all its businesses. The company also said that it hopes to produce an additional 30 million cubic metres per day of gas at its KG D6 field off India's east coast.

Sterlite Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, DLF, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Tata Power, NTPC, Jindal Steel, Coal India and Tata Steel are also among the gainers, up 1-2.5% each.

On the other hand, Wipro, Hindalco, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Gail India, ONGC and IT are among the laggards on the benchmark index.

Buying is visible across the board barring consumer durable stocks. Banking sector stocks have continued the upmove consecutively for the third straight session. The BSE banking index- bankex, is up 1.15% or 127 points at 11,346 levels. Realty, metal, auto, oil & gas, power, capital goods and PSU indices are also up 0.4-0.9% each.

Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Union Bank of India, Indusind Bank, Bank of India and IDBI Bank are among the top gainers from the banking space.

Among the individual stocks, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) is trading higher by 3% at Rs 54.40 after the company said that the Karnataka Government has sanctioned a special incentive package for the company’s phase-III expansion and upgradation.

The broader markets are trading flat. The BSE mid-cap index is up 25 points at 5,957 and the small-cap index is up 23 points at 6,307 levels.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,302 stocks are advancing while 1,085 are declining.