Markets gain in morning trades

The Indian bourses have opened on a positive note with the Sensex quoting 37 points higher at 20,913 after opening at 20,920 levels, while the Nifty is up 16 points at 6,291.

"Index is trading in a narrow range (6340 - 6240); violation of any level would add trigger in the direction", says technical analyst Ravi Nathani.

"We expect the index to consolidate between 6330 and 6220 before further sharp up move. Any such near term fall is an opportunity to buy for further upside which will first target 6400 and then 6640", says a note from Ambit Capital.

In the international markets, DJIA added 10 points to 11,357, while the Nasdaq gained 16 points at 2,579. However, investors seem to be taking a cautious view on the markets ahead of the scheduled G-20 meeting.

Asian markets too trade higher this morning with the Hang Seng trading 1% higher. Nikkei added 28 points at 9,859 as the Yen continued to drop against the $. The Japanese markets have touched a fresh four-and-a-half month high. However, the SGX Nifty is trading flat at 6,301.

Back home, Apollo Tyres, Cipla, HDIL and Ranbaxy are slated to declare their September 2010 quarter results later in the day today, besides Gujarat NRE Coke and MMTC. Investors will also stay cautious ahead of the index of industrial production (IIP) data, which is set to come out on Friday.

Reliance Power has gained 2% at Rs 177. Mahindra & Mahindra continued yesterday's big run and have added 2% to Rs 822.

BPCL jumped 2% to Rs 770 on a turnaround in Q2. The company reported a profir of Rs 2,140 crore. For the same quarter a year ago, it had reported a loss of Rs 160 crore.

Power Grid, whose FRP closes for bidding tomorrow has jumped 1% to Rs 103. The issue has been subscribed 3.61 times on the BSE-NSE demand graph so far.

Ranbaxy, Sterlite and Bajaj Auto are also up in trades.

However, DLF has dropped 1.8% to Rs 356. Bharti Airtel, TCS, ONGC and Infosys are in red.