Sensex, Nifty up 0.5%; SBI extends gains on Q4 nos

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened 0.5% higher on Monday morning, continuing Friday's upmove further. Banks (except ICICI Bank), capital goods and FMCG stocks were supporting the market.

The BSE benchmark was up 79.45 points or 0.5% at 16,232.20 and the NSE benchmark rose 27.25 points or 0.56% to 4,918.70.

SBI gained another 2% after rising 5% on Friday due to strong results in Q4. PNB, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank too gained 1% each while ICICI Bank was down 0.5%.

DLF, JP Associates, L&T, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, BHEL (ahead of number this week), TCS, ONGC, Tata Motors and Maruti were trading higher.

However, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and GAIL were under pressure.

The CNX Midcap Index rose 45 points to 6,912. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the National Stock Exchange.

In the second line shares, Glenmark Pharma and Pantaloon Retail were down 0.5% each in early trade.

Strong Results Reactions: Reliance Capital, Manappuram Finance and Alok Industries shot up 4-7%.

TV Today shot up 14% after Aditya Birla Group has agreed to buy 27.5% stake in Living Media India (holds 57.1% stake in TV Today) via private investment arm.

Other media companies: TV18 Broadcast was up 2.5% and Network 18 rallied 3.5%. (Note: Web18, which owns Moneycontrol.com and Indiaearnings.com, belongs to the Network 18 Group).

Himachal Futuristic Communication (HFCL) shot up 20% after The Economic Times reported that Reliance Industries tied up with this company for 4G launch.

Eveready Industries rose 6%. Deccan Chronicle, Suzlon Energy, Yes Bank and Jain Irrigation were up 1.5-2.5%.