Sensex up 175pts

The markets were steady in the late morning trades, the Sensex which touched the high of 18,188 was steady at 18,163 up 175 points and the Nifty was at 5465 higher by 51 points.

The banking stocks continued to witness buying as the banking amendment bill which aims at amending Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Banking Companies Act, 1970 and Banking Companies Act, 1980 was tabled in the parliament yesterday. The bill aimed at hiking voting rights to 10% a move that will make investment in state-owned banks more attractive.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer on the Sensex, the stock zoomed 3% to Rs 1033, Jaiprakash Associates jumped 2.1% to Rs 86. Hindalco, Sterlite Industries, BHEL, Cipla, DLF, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Communications and ITC were also trading higher by around 1% each. On the other hand Jindal Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS and Maruti Suzuki were among the losers.

On the sectoral front the BSE banking index- Bankex continued to remain the top gainer, the index gained 1.3% or 158 points to 12,395, Realty index added nearly 1% to 2098. Metal, FMCG, Healthcare, Capital Goods, Power and IT indices were also higher by 0.6-0.9% each. Meanwhile the BSE Auto index slipped marginally into the red, the index was lower by a point at 8591.

Kotak Mahindra Bank remained the top gainer among the banking stocks, followed by Indusind Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, Punjab National Bank, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.

Among the auto stocks Exide Industries was the top loser, it was followed by Cummins India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

The broader markets continued to trade on a firm note, the mid-cap index added 0.6% to 6581 and the small-cap index jumped 51 points to 7869.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1547 stocks advanced while 937 stocks declined.