At 10:32 hours IST - the benchmark Sensex continued its uptrend on the back of buying in financial, cement, auto and realty companies' shares. Jindal Steel, Reliance Industries, BHEL, ITC, Hindalco, Bharti and Cipla were other gainers in trade.

However, selling in technology companies' shares along with ONGC, NTPC, Sterlite, HUL, Idea Cellular, M&M, Suzlon and Ranbaxy capped the gains to major extent.

The Sensex was trading at 18118, up 67 points and the Nifty was at 5436, up 18 points, which was in a range of 5400-5500. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; both gained 0.7% each.

Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking believes until the 5,350-5,400 band is broken, the markets are still in safe waters and possibly could try and inch upwards. “However, once 5,350 is breached, then the Nifty can slip to below 5,000 levels as well,” he adds.

It remains to be a traders market, he says cautioning investors to stay away from largecaps. “This is not the time to buy that pack even for investment purpose. Midcap is a safer bet,” he adds.

SKS Microfinance, Sesa Goa, Cairn India, Raymond, Midfield Inds and SBI were the most active shares on exchanges.

In the midcap space, United Breweries shot up 13.71%. UB Holdings, Shiv Vani Oil, State Bank of Travancore and United Bank gained 4.5-5.7%. However, Gujarat Flourochem, Kesoram, Pipavav, Phoenix Mills and 3M India fell 1.7-3.3%.

In the smallcap space, Hindustan Motors, Ankur Drugs, JVL Agro Inds, NDTV and Jagatjit Ind rallied 7-9.6% while Ramsarup Inds, Raymond, Maharashtra Ele, SE Investments and Well Pack Paper lost 5-7.5%.