The Sensex is firm and is now quoting at 16,549, up 160 points, the pullback is mainly on the back of short covering in the markets owing to the derivatives expiry of May series today.

The European markets have also opened on a firm note, the major indices like FTSE and DAX are up 1% each.

The NSE Nifty is 44 points higher at 4,961.

Among the Sensex-30 stocks, Sterlite Industries and ONGC have added 4% each at Rs 645 and Rs 1,116, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, ITC and BHEL have advanced 2% each on the BSE.

The other major gainers are DLF, Tata Power, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Communications, up over 1% each.

On the losing side there si Bharti Airtel, Hindalco Industries and Cipla, down 0.5% each on the BSE.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,740 shares traded, 1,134 have declined and 1,508 have advanced so far on the BSE.

The Midcap and the smallcap indices are up 0.5% each on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, auto, oil&gas and FMCG indices are up 1% each on the BSE.