Sensex lingers near 17700; Hindalco, M&M gain

MUMBAI: Benchmarks were witnessing a choppy session with positive bias Monday due to lack of direction from the global peers. Gains in auto, metals and banks were offset by losses in IT space.

“Only three trading sessions are left in FY10, and looks like the bulls are all set to bid a happy farewell to it. We could see some typical year-end tricks being played by various players to shore up their balance sheets. Taken together with positive FII inflows and stable global markets, the Indian indices may well touch new 52-week highs.

It's a holiday-shortened week yet again. Watch out for the EXIM data, auto numbers and cement dispatch figures on the first day of FY11. Speaking of data, the latest report on infrastructure industries’ growth is a bit of a disappointment. However, it is unlikely to make a major dent in the sentiment.

We expect a steady to flat start and gradual build up towards new highs. Banking sector will be in focus, particularly the PSU pack as the RBI announces the calendar for government’s borrowing programme,” said India Infoline report.

At 11:17 am, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17701, up 57.14 points or 0.32 per cent. The index hit a high of 17731.47 and low of 17639.18 in trade so far.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5299.90, up 17.90 points or 0.34 per cent. The index touched intraday high of 5305.40 and low of 5242.15.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.40 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.39 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto Index was up 1.08 per cent, BSE Metal Index gained 0.84 per cent and BSE Bankex moved 0.82 per cent higher. BSE IT Index slipped 1.65 per cent.

Hindalco Industries (2.92%), M&M (2.83%), Sterlite Industries (1.92%), HDFC (1.70%) and Sun Pharma (1.62%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

Infosys Technologies (-2.25%), Tata Motors (-1.18%), TCS (-1.04%), Wipro (-0.77%) and Reliance Infrastructure (-0.45%) were amongst the losers.

Market breadth turned negative on the BSE with 1284 losers and 1278 gainers.

US stocks were little changed on Friday on geopolitical worries after the sinking of a South Korean naval ship and after a final reading on fourth-quarter gross domestic product was revised lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8.62 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 10,849.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down just 0.15 of a point, or 0.01 per cent, at 1,165.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4.73 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 2,392.68.

Asian counters were trading mixed with the Nikkei down 0.27 per cent and Kospi shedding 0.42 per cent. The Hang Seng was up 0.82 per cent and Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.90 per cent.