Markets trade marginally high, Sensex up 95pts

The markets, after starting on a subdued note, gained some strength in the late-morning session. The BSE Sensex is at 16,978, up 94 points and the S&P CNX Nifty is at 5,101, up 23 points. Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index touched a high of 16,988 and a low of 16,829.

Meanwhile, in other developments across the globe, ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the long-term credit rating of Spain by one notch on Friday, knocking the euro down by a third of US cent as it followed hard on the heels of a similar downgrade by Fitch last week.

S&P cited Spain's high unemployment, tightening credit and high level of private-sector debt among the reasons for the downgrade of the nation's creditworthiness to AA- from AA.

In Asia, the markets continued to slip with auto makers and resource firms weak, as data showed Chinese inflation eased slightly in September but remains at uncomfortably high levels. The Nikkei index is down 1% at 8,746, the Hang Seng index is down 2% at 18,496 and the Shanghai Composite index is down 1% at 2,413.

Back home, the markets are further expected to react to the monthly inflation data expected later in the day.

On the sectoral front, BSE IT, Teck and Consumer Durables indices are leading the gains, having gained nearly 1% each. TCS, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Financial Technologies, Infosys, up 1-2% each, are the gainers from the IT pack.

Blue Star, Bajaj Electricals, Rajesh Exports, VIP Industries and Videocon Industries, 1-3% each, are the gainers among the Consumer Durable stocks.

BSE Realty and Metal indices, down 1%, are leading the losses.

On the Sensex, Jindal Steel has moved up 3% at Rs 513. Other prominent gainers include TCS, Wipro, Tata Power and Sun Pharma Industries, down 1-2% each. The losers from the pack are DLF, Coal India, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki and JP Associats, down 1-4% each.

Among individual stocks, Zenith Infotech has hit its lower circuit of 10% at Rs 83.90 for the day after the company said that it has defaulted on its US$33 million foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) payment which was due on September 21, 2011.

Century Textiles and Industries surged 3% to Rs 315 on buzz of demerger of cement business into UltraTech Cement. “Kumar Mangalam Birla has agreed to go ahead with the long-awaited merger of the cement business of Century Textiles, owned by his grandfather B K Birla, with UltraTech. The merger process had started and the deal was likely to be inked in a few months,” reports suggest.

The overall market breadth is neutral as 1,191 stocks have advanced against 1,102 declining ones, on the BSE.