Sensex, Nifty remain in positive territory at 11:05 hrs

After a mild retreat that resulted in the market shedding some early gains, equities rallied higher on resumption of buying only to drift down again due to a round of profit taking in select blue chip stocks. The Sensex, which had rallied to 16,642.44 in early trade this morning, is up with a gain of 100.44 points or 0.61% at 16,554.89 at present. The Nifty is up 33.25 points or 0.68% at 4925.35. Metal stocks are in demand.

Mirroring sharp gains posted by key stocks in that space, the BSE Metal index has surged 2.5% now. Realty, bank and automobile stocks are also seen attracting strong buying enquiries. PSU stocks, which has turned a bit subdued in the previous session, are gaining in strength this morning on renewed support. Power, capital goods, FMCG and IT sectors witness stock specific action.

Several midcap and smallcap stocks have posted sharp gains this morning. The market breadth is quite strong at present. Out of 2370 stocks seen in action on BSE, 1481 stocks are trading in positive territory. 809 stocks have declined and 80 stocks trade flat. Tata Steel has rallied to Rs 515.80, gaining around 5%. Sterlite Industries is up 2.65% at Rs 763. Jindal Steel (3%), SAIL (3%), Ispat Industries (2.8%), JSW Steel (2.6%), Nalco (2.1%) and Jai Corp (1.2%) are the other prominent gainers in the metal space.

Realty stocks DLF, Unitech, Phoenix Mills, Mahindra Lifespace, Anant Raj Industries, Orbit Corporation, Sobha Developers and Omaxe are trading with notable gains. Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Communications, Jaiprakash Associates, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Hero Honda, ACC, ITC, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, NTPC, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and Infosys Technologies are up with sharp to moderate gains.

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Tata Steel sales volume up 18 pc in May

1. Tata Steel on Saturday said its sales volume surged by 18 per cent to 4.69 lakh tonnes in May on the back of robust demand from auto and construction sectors.
2. In the corresponding month last year, the company's sales stood at 3.97 lakh tonnes, the steel major said in a statement.
3. During the month under review, Tata Steel saw its saleable steel production surging by 23 per cent to 5.01 lakh tonnes as against 4.08 lakh tonnes.
4. The sale of long products, mainly used in construction industry, increased by 34 per cent while that of flat items, used by auto and consumer durable sectors, increased by nine per cent, over the year-ago period.
5. Tata Steel's crude steel output for the month went up by 17 per cent to 4.86 lakh tonnes from 4.16 lakh tonnes, while hot metal production rose by 19 per cent to 5.28 lakh tonnes from 4.43 lakh tonnes.
6. The company claimed that one of its steel melting shops in Jamshedpur achieved best-ever May production at 2.18 lakh tonnes. Also, a merchant mill recorded best-ever May production of 30,710 tonnes over 28,505 tonnes the same period last year.
7. The output of its hot strip mill and new bar mill also registered an impressive growth over May 2008, it said.

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