Sensex up nearly 200 pts as stocks hold gains; Realty, capital goods stocks sparkle

Thanks to sustained buying almost across the board, the market, which opened on an upbeat note this morning following a strong cues from global markets, remains high up in positive territory now.

A stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data, recent encouraging reports from the home front about manufacturing and services sectors activity and expectations of a series of rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of India are all contributing to the market's impressive display this morning. Data showing heavy buying by foreign institutional investors over the past few weeks and the 2G trial court verdict dismissing the petition to investigate home minister P Chidambaram on his alleged role in the telecom scam are also aiding sentiment to a notable extent.

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The Sensex, which rose to 17,829.72 in early trades, is now at 17,798, up 193.04 points or 1.1% over its previous closing mark. The Nifty is up 56.05 points or 1.05% at 5381.90, slightly off the day's high of 5390.05.

With several top notch realty stocks posting strong gains, the BSE Realty index has surged as much as 4.66% now. Capital goods, metal, bank and automobile stocks are also mostly up with impressive gains.

Stocks from power, healthcare, information technology and FMCG sectors too are trading firm. A few stocks from oil sector are up with smart gains.

Scores of midcap and smallcap stocks are up sharply on hectic buying this morning. The BSE Midcap index has surged 2.1%, while the Smallcap barometer is stronger by about 2.3%.

DB Realty and Unitech, the most impressive gainers among Realty stocks, are up nearly 11% over their previous closing prices. Sector heavyweight DLF is up 3.6%. HDIL has notched up a gain of 5.8%. Anant Raj Industries, Oberoi Realty, Parsvnath Developers, Phoenix Mills, Prestige Estates, Sobha Developers and Sunteck Realty are trading higher by 1% - 2%.

Among capital goods stocks, heavyweights Larsen & Toubro and BHEL are up by around 2.5% at Rs 1387 and Rs 1452 respectively. Bharat Earth Movers is up nearly 7% and Crompton Greaves is up with a gain of 4%. Alstom Projects, Bharat Electronics, Havells India, Lakshmi Machine Works, Pipavav Defence, Praj Industries, Punj Lloyd, Siemens and Suzlon Energy are up 1% - 4% now.

Metal stocks Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries are up 1.5% - 3%. NMDC is up with a gain of 6.3%. Coal India, Bhushan Steel, Hindustan Zinc, JSW Steel, SAIL, Sesa Goa are also up with strong gains.

Heavyweight bank stocks ICICI Bank (1.7%), State Bank of India (3.6%) and HDFC Bank (0.7%) are trading firm. Canara Bank, Federal Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Union Bank of India are up 3% - 5%. Axis Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Yes Bank are also up with impressive gains.

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Automobile stocks Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto, pharmaceuticals stocks Sun Pharmaceuticals and Cipla and IT major Tata Consultancy Services are up 1% - 2%. HDFC, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel are also trading notably higher.