Nifty hits 5700; Reliance leads, ITC hit all-time high

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher with the BSE Sensex gaining more than 100 points, helped by Reliance Industries and State Bank of India. ICICI Bank, Larsen & Tourbo, HDFC Bank and HDFC too led the support.

The 30-share BSE benchmark was up 134.25 points to 18,745.02 and the 50-share NSE benchmark rose 42 points to 5,702.05. The broader markets too were trading higher with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.7-1 percent.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel trimmed losses to 0.5 percent from 2 percent. Yesterday Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body of Department of Telecom (DoT), recommended existing operators surrendering the entire spectrum in 900 MHz band at the time of their licence renewal in 2014.

Cigarette major ITC hit an all-time high of of Rs 290.80, rising nearly 1 percent ahead of second quarter results tomorrow. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro were up 1 percent each.

Public sector lender State Bank of India was up 2 percent while its rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank gained 1 percent each. Housing finance company HDFC too rose 1 percent.

Tata group stocks remained on buyers' radar. Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors rallied 2 percent and power producer Tata Power surged 2.8 percent. Software services exporter TCS and steel producer Tata Steel were up 0.6 percent.

Drug producer Sun Pharma lost 1.6 percent and IT services provider Wipro declined 0.9 percent.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 1538 to 1087 on the BSE.