Sensex momentarily crosses 19K

Markets had a gap up opening with the Sensex starting at 19,026, up 176 points and the Nifty opened with a 44 points gain at 5690. The broader too had a strong opening with the smallcap index starting with a 0.6% gain and the midcap index gained nearly 0.5%.
However, moving ahead the markets succumbed to profit booking and the BSE benchmark index is currently up 69 points at 18,915 and the Nifty id at 5,662 up 15 points.

All the sectoral indices started in the positive barring the Consumer Durables index. Realty gaining 1.4% is the top gainer in the opening trades followed by MEtal, PSU and IT indices adding in the range of 0.6-0.8%.

Overnight in the US markets, the stocks rose pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a fourth consecutive quarterly rise. The index gained 1.3% in a span of four days. The S&P 500 Index rose 1%, to 1,320, leaving it down 1.8% for the month and off 0.4% for the just-ended quarter. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2%, to 2,773.52, down 0.3% for the quarter and off 2.2% since June began.

The Asian markets also started in the green with the Seoul Composite and Jakarta Composite leading the gains, up 1% followed by Taiwan Weighted, Nikkei and Straits Times gaining 0.6% - 0.7%. Meanwhile, Shanghai Composite was trading flat with a positive bias though Chinese trade data-Purchasing Managers' Index slipped to 50.9 in June from 52.0 in May.

Back home, the top gainers among the Sensex stocks are ONGC up 3% followed by Sterlite, DLF, Jaiprakash Associates, Bajaj Auto and ITC gaining 1-2%

Bharti Airtel down 2% continues to be the top loser for the second consecutive day. Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries losing 0.6-0.9% are some of the other significant losers.

The market breadth is positive. 1344 stocks advanced while 367 declined on the BSE.