Markets steady in noon trades

The markets seem to have steadied around current levels. The Sensex is now up 107 points at 16,942. The Nifty is up 27 points at 5,087.
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(Updated at 1250 hrs)

The markets have extended gains owing to strong opening on the European bourses. The CAC and the FTSE 100 are up 1% each.

The Sensex is now at 16,942, up 108 points. The NSE Nifty is 25 points higher at 5,085.

Larsen & Toubro continues to lead the Sensex-30 stocks, up 3% at Rs 1,651. The other major gainers are Jaiprakash Associates, Wipro, Grasim Industries and Reliance Communications, up over 2% each.

Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infrastcruture and Reliance Industries, up over 1% each.

On the other hand Tata Power has slipped 1.5%. The other losers are Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, TCS and Sterlite Industries, down 1% each.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,747 shares traded, 1,835 have advanced and 804 have declined so far on the BSE.

All the sectoral indices barring the metal index are in green. Capital goods and oil & gas indices are up over 1.5% each.

The BSE midcap and the smallcap indices are up 1% and 1.5%, respectively.