Markets pared gains and were off the morning's highs as auto and realty indices slipped following a higher than expected inflation data. The Sensex after opening marginally in the red, gained strength and moved up to a high of 18,367 on buying in RIL and ICICI Bank. The index was trading at 18,315 - up 141 points. CNX Nifty was up 40 points at 5,486.
The government came out with its inflation numbers. India's wholesale price index (WPI) rose an annual 8.31% in February on higher fuel and manufactured product prices. The figure was above the median forecast for a 7.79% rise and was higher than the annual rise of 8.23% in January.
Meanwhile, Japan's economy may face a recession due to the huge loss and continuing destruction after the earthquake and tsunami. "We now expect the Japanese economy to take longer than we expected to exit its current soft patch owing to the earthquake and tsunami," Nomura analysts Takahide Kiuchi and Okazaki Kohei wrote in a note to clients.
BSE oil & gas index continued to shine in today's market. The index was up 1.5% at 9,870 as crude oil prices fell.
Oil fell below $100 a barrel on worries that the Japan earthquake would effect the country's refining capacity and decrease demand for the commodity.
Gail India surged 3.5% to Rs 458. HPCL and BPCL jumped aound 2% each to Rs 329 and Rs 557, respectively. Market heavyweight, Reliance advanced 1.6% to Rs 1,008. IOC, Oil India, ONGC and Cairn India were up around 1% each.
Metal, IT and banks gained with the indices moving up around 1% each. However, rate sensitives - auto and realty dropped. The auto index shed 0.5% to 8,719. BSE realty index slipped 0.17% to 2,100.
Reliance Infra jumped 2.5% to Rs 619. Tata Steel and Tata Power were up 2% each in trades. HDFC, Reliance Communications, Jindal Steel and NTPC were in green. Sterlite, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank and Wipro were in green.
Aviation stocks gained on a falling crude. Spicejet jumped 3% to Rs 40. Jet Airways surged 4% to Rs 462. Kingfisher was up 2% at Rs 41.
However, Maruti Suzuki shed 1% to Rs 1,239 on fears that margins would be hit by the earthquake. Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Hero Honda were other auto losers. Bharti Airtel slipped 0.5% at Rs 321.
BSE market breadth was marginally positive with 1,338 stocks advancing and 1,263 declining on the BSE.