The markets are trading firmly in the green in mid-morning, albeit off the intra-day highs registered at opening bell. The markets had started Tuesday's session on a strong footing due to receding fears of immediate escalation in the Middle East.
At 11.50am, the Sensex had shaved off around 300 points and was quoting at 40,965, up 289 points or 0.7 per cent, after touching an intra-day high of 41,230 this morning, and the Nifty was at 12,077, up 84 points or 0.7 per cent. The Bank Nifty had also pared some of its gains and was at 31,555, up 189 points or 0.6 per cent.
The broader markets were also moving in tandem; the BSE Midcap index was trading higher by 0.6 per cent 14,864 and the Smallcap index was up 0.9 per cent at 13,715.
The air-strike by the US that killed Iran's key military leader Qassem Soleimani on January 3 had spooked financial markets across the world in the previous session and the Indian markets also felt the heat.
The top percentage gainers on the BSE were Tata Steel, up 1.5 per cent at Rs 480), Reliance Industries (up 1.4 per cent at Rs 1523 and NTPC (up 1.3 per cent at Rs 120. HDFC Bank, ITC, L&T and ICICI Bank were the other significant gainers on the BSE, adding 0.7 to 1.3 per cent each.
All the BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green, with the Metal and Energy indices leading the gains, both up more than 1 per cent each.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Nestle India and Hero Motocorp were languishing in the red, by up to half a per cent each, on the BSE.
In company-specific news, the Supreme Court rejected the government's plea challenging a refund of Rs 104.34 crore to Reliance Communications (RCom). In December 2018, the Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had ordered the refund to the telecom arm of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group as balance of bank guarantee for spectrum. The tribunal's order was challenged by the government.
The market breadth favored the bulls. Out of 2,159 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,484 advancing stocks as against 553 declines.
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