The markets are on a firm footing this morning thanks to a positive closing on Wall Street and an equally encouraging set of cues from across Asia. The Sensex is quoting at 17961, higher by 83 points and the Nifty is at 5392, up 25 points. The midcap index is at 7448, higher by 54 points and the smallcap index is at 9503, upm 71 points.
US stocks ended higher on Monday supported by strong earnings. The Dow gained 56 points at 10,154 and Nasdaq added 19 points at 2,198. And the Asian markets have took off from there, with the Hang Seng strengthening by 155 points and Nikkei adding 21 points in early trades.
The leading Sensex gainers are Sterlite (strengthened by 1.6% at Rs 168), M&M (gained 1.1% at Rs 609) and Tata Motors (added 1% at Rs 821). Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Steel and Wipro are the other significant gainers. And index heavyweight RIL has edged higher by 0.5% at Rs 624.
On the other hand, Tata Power has weakened by 0.6% at Rs 1320 and NTPC has shed 0.1% at Rs 202.
The market breadth is positive. Out of 1447 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1195 advancing stocks as against 224 declines.
