Markets firm up

The markets have firmed up in the last few minutes. The Sensex is now up 73 points at 16,310, and the Nifty is up 22 points at 4,879.
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(Updated at 1050 hrs)

After rebounding into the positive zone and on touching a high of 16,301. The index is now marginally higher at 16,269, up 32 points. The NSE Nifty is at 4,864, up seven points.

Among the gainers in the Sensex, Wipro, Grasim Industries, BHEL, Bharti Airtel and Jaiprakash Associates have advanced 1% each to Rs 675, Rs 2,672, Rs 2,373, Rs 279 and Rs 132, respectively.

The other prominent gainers are ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC, Hindalco and Reliance Communication, up 0.5% each.

ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro are the main losers on the Sensex, down 1% each at Rs 1,095, Rs 983 and Rs 1,477, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Infrastrcuture and ITC are down 0.5% each.

The market breadth is negative, out of 2,417 shares traded, 1,365 have declined and 966 have advanced so far on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, bankex, metal and IT indices have added 0.5% each while auto and FMCG has slipped 0.5%, respectively.