Markets remain firm, realty and power stocks lead

The markets continue to trade on a firm note in the noon deals. The Sensex has advanced 135 points to 16,586 levels and the Nifty continues to hold onto crucial psychological levels of 5,000. It is trading higher by 46 points at 5,002. The markets opened on a higher tracking positive global cues.

Meanwhile, the food inflation rate for the week ended January 7, 2012, stayed in the negative and dropped to -0.42% on rising food demand mainly due to fall in prices of onion and vegetables. Fuel group inflation remained unchanged at 14.45% and primary articles inflation came in at 2.47%.

According to Ravi Nathani, technical analyst, resistance for Nifty would be at 5,060 & 5,120 levels and support would be at 4,920 & 4,875 levels.

Realty, metal, power and banking stocks are among the top performers in trades so far. Metal, Power and Bankex indices are up 1.3-2.1% each.

BSE Relty index is the top sectoral gainer, up 2.3% to 1,675 levels. HDIL from this space is the top gainer, up nearly 5% to Rs 78.

DLF has also jumped, 3.6% to Rs 208 on reports that the India’s largest real estate firm is planning to sell a convention centre project in Delhi and its wind power business for about Rs 1,800 crore early next fiscal. Parsvnath Developers, Sobha Developers, Godrej Properties and DB Realty are also trading higher.

Shares of power companies have rallied on the bourses after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the promoters of private power companies that a road map would be prepared to resolve the issues in a time-bound manner. Reliance Infrsstructure, Tata Power, Lanco Infra, PTC, NTPC, GMR Infra and Thermax are among the top gainers.

Sterlite Industries from the metal space is the top gainer, up 4.4% to Rs 113. Hindalco, Tata Steel, Coal India, SAIL, Hindustan Zinc and JSW Steel have also jumped 1-3% each.

The banking stocks such as ICIC Bank, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank and Indusind Bank are also trading higher by 1.6-3% each.

Among the other stocks, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Sun Pharma and Gail India are also buzzing in trdes so far.

However, the technology stocks stocks are facing the selling pressure. The BSE IT index and Teck indiceshave slipped 0.54% each. From the Information Technology sector, Infosys, Hexaware Technologies, Wipro, Oracle Financial Services and TCS are among the top losers.

Bharti Airtel from the Teck space is the prominent loser, down 1.13% to Rs 341 on tax demand notice of Rs 1,067 crore from I-T department. Idea Cellular, DC Holdings, HT Media and D B Corp are also among the losers from this space.

The broader markets have added 1% each. The BSE mid-cap index is up 63 points at 5,652 and the small-cap index has advanced 67 points to 6,262 levels.

The overall market breadth is extremely positive as 1,574 stocks are advancing while 931 are declining.