Sensex trades higher led by RIL, ONGC, ITC, ICICI Bk

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The Sensex started the week on a positive note led by heavyweight Reliance Industries along with buying in banking, auto, cement and metal stocks. Reliance has made a preliminary, non binding cash offer to buy Dutch company LyondellBasell, reports CNBC-TV18. The stock was up 1%.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex rose 99 points to 17,121 and the Nifty gained 28 points at 5,080. The CNX Midcap went up 45 points to 7,207. About 545 shares advanced while 148 shares declined on the NSE.

Among the frontliners, PNB, Suzlon Energy, Tata Motors, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim, ACC, Siemens, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC, ONGC, Jindal Steel & Power, Sterlite Industries and Tata Steel were the gainers in the early trade.

However, Bharti Airtel lost 2%. Infosys and Idea Cellular were down 0.7% each.

Midcap space:

Vishal Retail was up another 5.5%. It shot up 40% in last week.

Dish TV was up 1.7%. According to sources, the company raised $ 100 million via GDR issue.

Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank and Vijaya Bank continued to gain on the buzz of consolidation in the banking space.

Exide Industries was up 4% and Rico Auto rose 5% post quarterly numbers.

However, Balrampur Chini, Bajaj Hindusthan and Shree Renuka Sugars were down 1.5-2.5% as government will be taken up sugarcane pricing bill today in Parliament.

Global cues:

Asian markets were trading mixed. Hang Seng and Straits Times gained 0.5% each. Shanghai, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted were flat while Jakarta fell 0.5%.