Nifty above 5600 in noon trade; RIL, SBI, ICICI Bank lead

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The market extended gains in the afternoon trade, supported majorly by Reliance Industries, SBI and ICICI Bank. L&T, ONGC, BHEL and Bharti Airtel too were quite supportive. The Nifty was trading above the 5600 level, which climbed 43 points to 5,608. Meanwhile, the Sensex gained 134 points at 18,423.55.

Laurence Balanco of CLSA feels the Nifty may face resistance at 5,700 and then 6,000, though he expects to see a pause on the Nifty as he feels the market is in an overbought zone right now.

Index heavyweights SBI, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, L&T and Bharti Airtel gained 1-2%.

BHEL and Tata Steel retained their top position in the buying list, rising 4.4% each. ONGC and Hindalco moved up over 3%.

Among other largecaps, M&M, Hero Motocorp, Tata Power, Sterlite, Jindal Steel and ITC were up 0.8-1.7%.

However, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, TCS, HDFC, Wipro trimmed their somewhat losses, falling 0.2-0.5%.

The broader markets gained around 1%. About 1609 shares advanced while 1082 shares declined on the BSE.

In the second line shares, Nava Bharat Ventures, Bajaj Finserv, SREI Infrastructure, Glodyne Tech and Jai Corp rallied 7-9%.

Smallcaps like Consolidated Construction, Electrosteel, Triveni Turbine, Greenply Industriers and Vakrangee Softwares were up 9-12%.

At 11:50 hours IST: Sensex holds on to early gains; broader mkts outperform

Continued rally in banks (barring HDFC Bank), metals, capital goods, auto (barring Maruti) and oil & gas helped the market maintain its early trade gains. The Nifty was moving around the 5600 mark, reacting to Greek debt deal approval. It gained 33 points at 5,597.60 while the Sensex rose 94 points to 18,383.66.

Euro zone finance ministers approved a bailout for Greece that will resolve its immediate financing needs with a 130-billion-euro rescue package and measures to cut its debt to 121% of GDP by 2020.

"Greece is, of course, good news for the market, it is very positive news," said Kishor P. Ostwal, chairman of CNI Research. Asian markets too recovered from day's low.

Back home, banks stocks like SBI and ICICI Bank were up 1.7% & 0.5%, respectively. Metals stocks like Hindalco and Tata Steel shot up 3% each; JSPL and Sterlite gained 1%.

Major largecaps like ONGC and BHEL moved up 3.6% & 4.6%, respectively. Among others, ITC, L&T and Bharti Airtel rose 0.4-0.9%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was flat. However, TCS, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Wipro and Maruti fell 0.3-0.9%.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks - the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.85% and Smallcap up 1.2%.

India's annual consumer price inflation was 7.65% in January, the government said in a statement, higher-than wholesale inflation for the period. The annual consumer price index (CPI) data released for the first time on Tuesday measures retail prices in major food groups, fuel, clothing, housing and education across rural and urban India.

(With inputs from Reuters)