At 12.02 hrs IST, the Sensex was inching towards 18000 with positive bias. The markets posted a stupendous rally ahead of the opening day of expiry week after news break in weekend of Chinese yuan. Stocks and commodities jumped on Monday and US Treasuries fell as investors bet China will allow the yuan to rise after promising more currency flexibility, easing political tensions with the West and encouraging investors to snap up riskier assets. The Sensex was up 331.99 points or 1.89% at 17902.81, and the Nifty up 96.75 points or 1.84% at 5359.35. About 2020 shares advanced, 916 shares declined, and 379 shares were unchanged. The spot yuan rate edged up to 6.8110 against the dollar, its strongest level since September 2008, after China's central bank signaled at the weekend that it was unshackling the currency from its de facto 23-month-old peg. Nifty's rally of more than 100 points pushed Open Interest Put Call Ratio at 1.72 levels. This level is clearly suggesting markets are in extreme overbought condition. Nifty 5200 and 5300 call saw huge cut in Open Interest indicating short covering by call writers. Nifty 5200 Put has maximum Open Interest suggesting Nifty has strong support at 5200 ahead of expiry. In the largecap space, Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and SAIL were up 4-9%. HCL Tech was the only loser in Nifty. Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 1,066.30 up 1.05% from its previous close of Rs 1,055.25. Tech major Infosys was trading at Rs 2,802.50 up 0.75% from its previous close of Rs 2,781.55. Refinery major HPCL was trading at Rs 341.00 up 0.32% from its previous close of Rs 339.90. Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 258.70 up 0.54% from its previous close of Rs 257.30. Cigarette major ITC was trading at Rs 298.00 up 1.29% from its previous close of Rs 294.20. Top gainers on the BSE Midcap: Edelweiss Capital, Mahindra Life, Andrew Yule, Gee Kay Finance and HCL Info were up 5-10%. Top losers on the BSE Midcap: Kwality Dairy, KGN Industries, GTL, Pipavav and Phoenix Mills were down 1.5-5%. Top gainers on the BSE Smallcap: Hindustan Motors, VIP Industries, OM Metals Infra, Entegra and Future Capital were up 8-13%. Top losers on the BSE Smallcap: TCI Industries, Subhkam Capital, Rollatainers, Shree Ram Urban and Mah Polybutenes were down 3.5-5%.

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