Sensex up 105 points; Bharti Airtel trades firm

Thanks to sustained buying in several blue chip stocks, the market, which rebounded smartly in late morning trade after a fairly sharp setback, remains in positive territory now.

However, with a few blue chip stocks, including some heavyweights, facing stiff resistance at higher levels, the market has come off its higher levels once again.

At 17,405.35, nearly 100 points off the day's high, the Sensex is now up 104.77 points or 0.6% over its previous closing mark. The Nifty is up 25 points or 0.5% at 5260.70.

Top gainers | Worst losers | More tips

Hectic profit taking at several front line counters following the Supreme Court canceling all the 122 licenses issued on or post January 2008, took a toll of blue chip stocks and had very nearly pushed the Sensex into negative territory around mid morning today. Following the Supreme Court verdict, telecom stocks, with the exception of Bharti Airtel, declined sharply this morning.

While Bharti Airtel shot up by nearly 10% post verdict, Reliance Communications, Unitech, Idea Cellular and Videocon Industries plunged sharply on selling pressure.

Realty, metal, power, information technology and capital goods stocks are mostly trading higher now with strong gains. Automobile, oil and bank stocks are trading mixed. Pharmaceuticals and FMCG stocks are mostly subdued this afternoon.

Bharti Airtel is up nearly 8% at Rs 389.65 thanks to heavy buying at the counter. Sterlite Industries and DLF are up 4.85% and 4.7% at Rs 125.30 and Rs 227.75 respectively. Hero Motocorp is up 3.75% at Rs 1999.85. Wipro is up nearly 3%. Tata Poewr, GAIL India, ONGC, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra and BHEL are up 1.75% - 2.5%.

Cola India, Hindustan Unilever, ICICIBank, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys are also trading notably higher at present.

HCL Technologies, Ambuja Cements, Sesa Goa, Power Grid Corporation, ACC and BPCL are up 1.5% - 4%.

Top gainers | Worst losers | More tips

IDFC is trading lower by over 5% at rS 130.60. Reliance Communications is down with a loss of 4.3%. Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Cairn India, Cipla, Punjab National Bank, Reliance Power, Sun Pharmaceuticals and State Bank of India are trading lower by 1.5% - 3%.