Indian Stock markets gained further ground at 1 pm. The markets were trading lower an hour back as some selling was witnessed at higher levels. All sectors were trading higher today. While selling at higher levels has caused markets to slide, but some select counters are still holding strong.

Grasim touched an intraday high of Rs 1009 and was trading at Rs 987 at 1 pm IST.  Tata Motors, M&M and Maruti were trading in positive. Auto stocks opened strong, but have lost some of earlier gains due to selling at higher levels. Similar trend was witnessed among technology stocks as well. Infosys Technologies and Satyam have come off their intraday highs, while Wipro has managed to stay strong.

Among midcap stocks, major gainers were Amtek Auto, Ansal Properties, Matrix Labs, Bombay Dyeing, Punj Lloyd, Praj Industries, Bajaj Hindustan, Moser Baer, Voltas, BEML, Petronet LNG and Titan Industries.

Motilal Oswal has suggested buy call for Tata Steel with a price target of Rs 361. Tata Steel was trading 5.2% higher on NSE at Rs 192. The stock has touched 52-week high and low of Rs 957 and Rs 137.5 respectively. At current price, the stock is available at a P/E of 2.52.

Merrill Lynch rated Hindalco Underperform with a price target of Rs 40. The stock has touched a 52-week high of Rs 201 and a low of Rs 38 on NSE.

Reliance Equities has suggested buy call for Advanta with a price target of Rs 625. Credit Suisse has suggested Outperform rating for BHEL with price target of Rs 1630.

As Asian markets are strong, Indian markets may also close the day with decent gains.