Sensex northbound; EIL, NMDC, STC most active

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At 13:54 hours IST - consistent buying in auto, banking & financial, capital goods and technology stocks along with Bharti Airtel was supporting the markets to stay on the higher side. Positive European cues were also helping the markets; CAC, DAX and FTSE gained 0.5% each.

However, the sell-off continued in realty, FMCG, metal and cement companies' shares, which capped the gains to some extent. Heavyweight Reliance Industries and other stocks like Tata Power, Power Grid were also the losers in trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 17,670.79, up 116.49 points and the Nifty was at 5,282.15, up 29.95 points. 

Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap index was up 0.5% and Smallcap up 1%. The market breadth was positive; about 1727 shares advanced while 1207 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 176 shares were unchanged.

HDFC Bank was the leader on the Nifty, gained 4.5% followed by TCS, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, SBI and Hero Honda, which went up 1-3.5%.

However, Reliance Industries declined 0.5%. Cairn, SAIL, Jindal Steel, Sterlite, ITC and Tata Steel fell 0.7-2.5%.

In the midcap space, Engineers India jumped 13%. STC India and Gujarat Flourochem gained 11.7% each. Andrew Yule was up 10.9% and UTV Software went up 7.76%. However, Madras Cements, Dish TV India, UB Holdings, Balrampur Chini and Motherson Sumi fell 2.6-4%.

In the smallcap space, Vinati Organics rose 17.5%. VIP Industries, City Union Bank, Balmer Lawrie and Pratibha Industries were up 10.7-13.5%. However, Richa Industries, Graviss Hosp, PVR, Orient Abrasive and Navneet declined 4.5-5%.

Engineers India, NMDC, STC India, Hindustan Copper, Dredging Corporation, HDFC Bank and Tata Steel were most active shares on the bourses.

The disinvestment secretary Sunil Mitra said in an interview to CNBC-TV18 that the government was likely to mop up more than Rs 24,000 crore in fiscal 2010. The government plans to list 60 unlisted public sector units, and may even ask for dividend before divesting cash rich companies, he added.