Mkts positive; telecom, infrastructure, metals, cement gain

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At 10:39 hours IST, the benchmark indices were trading with positive bias despite seeing selling pressure at higher levels. Buying in infrastructure, telecom, metal and cement was helping the markets. However, the sell-off in ONGC, SBI, HDFC, Maruti, BPCL, L&T and SAIL capped the gains.

The 15,000 level was acting as a resistance for the Sensex, which was up 108 points, to 14,982 and the Nifty went up 32 points, to 4,557, at 10:39 hours IST. Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap Index was up 1.5% and the Smallcap Index gained 2%.

The market breadth was positive; about 2093 shares advanced while 700 shares declined. Nearly 343 shares were unchanged.

In the midcap space, Lakshmi Energy surged 15.8%. Patni Computer, Bajaj Holdings, Max India and CRISIL went up 7-8.8%. In the smallcap space, Nalwa Sons Investment, Sobha Developer, Swaraj Engines, Gemini Comm and WABCO-TVS shot up 9.5-10%.

Ajay Srivastava of Dimensions Consulting is of the view that markets have gone way ahead of the fundamentals. He said the frenzy of buying seen in the markets is similar to that of December 2007. "The market is overlooking all the negative clues. The frenzy being built-up it has nothing to do with valuations."

Telecom stocks like Idea Cellular, Reliance Communication, Tata Communication, Tata Teleservices, MTNL and Bharti Airtel were up 1.2-4.3%.

In the infrastructure space, Suzlon Energy, Reliance Power, Tata Power, GVK Power, Crompton Greaves, Areva T&D, Reliance Infrastructure, NTPC, BHEL and Siemens gained 1-4%. Torrent Power, Power Grid Corp and GMR Infra went up 0.5-0.9%.

Cement stocks like ACC, Ambuja Cements, Grasim, Prism Cement were up 1-4%.

WABCO-TVS, Sundaram-Clayton, Satyam, Essar Oil, Tata Steel, Unitech and Reliance Communication were most active shares on the bourses.

Sundaram-Clayton shot up 6%, as 74.30 lakh shares of the company changed hands on the BSE at Rs 165/sh.

On the next page - See how Indian markets performed in the last half an hour