The markets are trading firm on a new high on account of sustained buying seen in index pivotals. Sensex is at a shouting distance of 18,000 mark. Heavies like L&T, BHEL, Reliance and Bharti Airtel are contributing to the uptrend. Buying is seen in capital goods, telecom and oil & gas stocks.Selling pressure is seen in interest rate senstives like auto, bank and realty stocks. Even FMCG and IT stocks are trading at lower levels.

Reliance hit Rs 2,500 mark and Bharti Airtel hit Rs 1000 mark.

But midcap index is trading in trading flat and smallcap is up 0.5%.

On the macroeconomic front, inflation came in higher at 3.42% versus 3.23%.

Power Grid got listed at Rs 85 versus issue price of Rs 52/share, debuting with market cap of Rs 39,000 crore and further moved up at Rs 102.

Top gainers on the Sensex are Larsen & BHEL up 6%, ABB up over 3.5%, Bharti up 4% and Reliance Comm up 2%.

Top losers on the Sensex are NTPC, Tata Motors, ITC, Hindalco, Wipro and TCS.

BSE capital good index was up 4%. Major gainers in this space were L&T, Cotton Greaves, BHEL and Jyoti Structures.

In the oil & gas segment up 1%, Reliance Industries ONGC and Essar oil were the major gainers.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Hong Kong''s Hang Seng rose 1.33% or 357.90 points at 27,331.88, Singapore''s Straits Times gained 0.31% or 11.86 points at 3,795.67. However, Japan''s Nikkei was down 0.17% or 28.70 points at 17,063.79, Taiwan''s Taiwan Weighted slipped 0.30% or 28.68 points at 9,598.71 and South Korea''s Seoul Composite declined 0.63% or 12.57 points at 1,991.03.