Nifty holds morning gains; SBI, ICICI Bank, L&T, BHEL lead

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The Sensex erased some gains due to fall index heavyweight Reliance Industries, though it retained its 100 points gains led by banks, capital goods, metals and FMCG stocks. The BSE benchmark was up 134 points at 17,739 and the Nifty climbed 44 points to 5,370.

Shares of country's largest lenders SBI and ICICI Bank were leading the gains, rising 3% & 1.5%, respectively.

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Capital goods majors L&T and BHEL rose 2% each. In the metal space, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries gained nearly 3%; Jindal Steel and Tata Steel moved up around 1.5%.

Auto stocks like Bajaj Auto, Maruti and Hero Motocorp were up 1.2-1.6%; Tata Motors and M&M were marginally higher.

In the technology space, TCS rose 1.7% and Infosys was up just 0.3%. However, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank fell 0.3%. Tata Power remained top loser, falling nearly 3%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1850 to 813 on the BSE.

Midcaps like India Infoline, DB Realty, Unitech, Voltas and TV18 Broadcast shot up 8-18%. Smallcaps like Sandur Manganes, PI Industries, Kolte-Patil, Federal-Mogul and Claris Life rallied 14-16%.

At 11:41 hours IST : Sensex off day's high; broader markets outperform

Consistent buying in leading sectors like banks, capital goods and metals helped the market stay higher since early trade. However, fall in index heavyweight Reliance Industries capped gains to some extent. The Nifty rose 41 points to 5,366.55. Meanwhile, the Sensex was up 130.34 points at 17,735.30.

Rashesh Shah, Chairman and CEO, Edelweiss Group thinks that the rally is driven by global liquidity and it is likely to remain high in the next three to four months.

Frontliners like SBI, DLF, Sterlite Industries, L&T, BHEL, Jaiprakash Associates, Ambuja Cements and Siemens topped the buying list today, rising 2-4%.

However, Tata Power tanked 2%. Reliance Industries, NTPC and GAIL were down 0.5%.

The market breadth remains strong; about three shares gained for every share falling on the National Stock Exchange.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices surged 2%.

In the second line shares, India Infoline shot up 20% and DB Realty rose 15.5%. Unitech, Blue Star and Voltas jumped 8-11%.

Smallcap stocks like Sandur Manganes, Kolte-Patil, Claris Life, Federal-Mogul and Adhunik Metalik were up 11-20%.