Firm trades continue led by banks

Markets continue to witness substantial buying demand with the Sensex and the Nifty gaining by almost 1% each. At 10:30, the 30-share Sensex was up 170 points at 16,200 and the 50-share Nifty was up 51 points at 4,910.
Meanwhile, the rupee gained on Thursday as global risk assets stabilised globally after a recent selloff. The rupee was at 54.30/32 to the dollar in early trade versus its Wednesday close of 54.51, which was just off the record low of 54.52 to the dollar hit on the same day.
On the global front, Asian shares steadied on Thursday from the previous day's sell-off, but investors found no reason to bet on risk amid deepening turmoil in Greece and fears of contagion to other stressed euro zone economies.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1%, after sliding more than 3% for its biggest one-day drop in six months on Wednesday.
Back home, BSE FMCG, Realty and Bankex indices have surged by nearly 2% each. Sectors like Power, Metal, PSU, Consumer Durable, Oil & Gas and Auto have gained by nearly 1% each.
Banking and financial shares like HDFC Bank, SBI, HDFC and ICICI Bank have surged between 1-2%.
DLF is the top Sensex gainer, up over 3%. From the FMCG segment, ITC and HUL have gained between 1-3%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Inds has gained over 1%.
Other notable gainers include Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, Jindal Steel, BHEL, Hero Moto, NTPC, Tata Power and Bharti Airtel, all rising between 1-2%.
On the losing side, TCS, L&T and Infosys are trading marginally in weak zone.
Among other shares, Indoco Remedies is trading higher by 5% at Rs 61.70 ahead of the bonus issue and stock split proposed by the board of directors.
Cox and Kings has rallied up to 5% at Rs 150 after the company said it is planning to raise up to $140 million (approx Rs 760 crore) from an institutional investor for its UK subsidiary.
Overall breadth is extremely positive as 1,275 stocks are advancing while 647 are declining on the BSE.