 "Markets continue to remain range bound, banks lead")
At 11:38AM the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 50 points at 20,162 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share gained 10 point at 6,124.
Bank of Japan concluded its two-day policy meet with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda giving a go-ahead to monthly bond purchases in order to achieve 2 per cent inflation target.
Investors are now looking forward to US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to US lawmakers and the minutes of the Fed's May meeting, both due later today for further clarification on stimulus measures and economic growth.
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Asian shares gained momentum with Japan's Nikkei up 2% and Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.5%. Trading on Hong Kong equity markets will be delayed due to a storm warning. The Shanghai Composite was trading flat with negative bias.
IT index continues to remain the topper among sectoral indices on the BSE followed by Metal, Healthcare, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods indices on the BSE.
In the Sensex pack, SBI and ICICI Bank rebounded after the recent correction and were up over 1% each.
Pharma shares also recovered after profit taking was seen in the past few sessions following the new drug policy. Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs were up over 2% each.
IT shares remained firm on the back of weakening rupee. Infosys was up 0.5% and TCS gained 0.2%.
Among other shares, Styrolution ABS (India) has tanked 8.5% to Rs 435, extending its previous day’s 8.8% fall the company said bids received in offer-for-sale (OFS) at or above the clearing price of Rs 426 have been considered for allocation.
The broader markets also pared early gains with mid-caps and small-caps up 0.1-0.2% on the BSE.
The market breadth was almost neutral with 992 losers and 964 gainers on the BSE.