Nifty inches closer to 6000 mark

Markets continue to trade higher on back of gains in high beta counters such as metal and realty. The Sensex has risen 240 points to 19,827 and the Nifty has surged 65 points to 5950.

India Infoline Research indicates that a small pull-back from recent highs is not ruled out. Also as markets continue to scale new highs, caution looms. "There is a lingering fear that some crash could happen, but no one is able to pin it down to any individual event. shocking bad news from the external front could be one of the causes," according to India Infoline.

Besides FMCG pack, metal counter is shining again, the index has risen 1.24%, followed by Realty index, up 1%.

Sesa Goa, up 3.3%, Jindal Steel, up 2.9%, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel, up over 2% each are the top gainers from the metal pack

Peninsula Land, up 3.5%, Phoenix Mills, up 2.3%, DLF, up 1.9% are top gainers from the Realty counter.

Besidex Bankex, PSU index remains subdued at 10.251. Shipping Corporation, down 2.7%, followed by United Bank and Bharat Electricals, down over 1% each are top losers from the PSU pack.

On the Sensex, FMCG major ITC is leading the gains, up 4.5%, followed by HUL, 3.7%, from the Telecom space Reliance Communication is up 4.5% and Bharti Airtel has risen over 3.6%.

Only 6 components on the Sensex are trading in red, Sterlite Industries has fallen 1.2% and NTPC is down 0.5%.

The broader markets continue to trade firm, Midcap index has gained 0.7% and the Small-cap index has surged 0.9%

The market breadth is positive as 1855 stocks have advanced, 1097 stocks have declined