Sensex trades strong; RIL, Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI lead

At 13:34 hours IST, the Nifty was trading with positive bias & was inching towards the 4900 mark. Heavy buying was seen in banking, metal, oil & gas and FMCG stocks. On the losing side, telecom stocks continued to reel under pressure. About one percent rise in European markets was also supportive.

All BSE sectoral indices were trading in green barring TECk Index. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1.24% and 1.83%, respectively. Out of 30 stocks in Sensex, 26 stocks were trading in green. Reliance, Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T, ITC, SBI and HDFC were the positive contributors for the Sensex.

The Sensex was up 241.13 points or 1.49% at 16399.41, and the Nifty was up 81.40 points or 1.70% at 4877.55. About 2078 shares advanced while 902 shares declined. Nearly 786 shares were unchanged. On the F&O side, huge activity of put writing was seen in 4700 and 4600 puts. 

Top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance at Rs 2,021.35, up 3.30%; ITC at Rs 256.50, up 3.20%; Tata Power at Rs 1,310.20, up 3.04%; ICICI Bank at Rs 871.55, up 2.69% and SBI at Rs 2,261.65, up 2.61%.

Cigarette major ITC was trading at Rs 256.50 up 3.2% from its previous close of Rs 248.55.

Top losers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel at Rs 308.75, down 3.49%; Reliance Communications at Rs 174.05, down 2.22%; HUL at Rs 271.10, down 0.7% and BHEL at Rs 2,220, down 0.07%.

Most active shares on NSE were Reliance, SBI, ICICI Bank, Unitech and HDIL.

Top gainers on the BSE Midcap - Jai Corp, Central Bank, Sobha Developer, Thomas Cook and Hotel Leela were up 6-20%.

Top gainers on the BSE Smallcap - Orbit Corporation, Gulf Oil Corp, KPIT Cummins, Kalyani Steels and IVR Prime were up 9-15%.

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