Markets opened on a flat note, shrugging off firm Asian cues. The Nifty was up 4 points, at 5727 and the Sensex was up 20 points, 19,109.
Markets may continue to remain volatile on back of earnings season, technicals analysts said that bulls were trying to take control on Nifty. Puneet Kinra, Senior Technical Analyst (Equity Research), Bonanza Portfolio said, "after making spinning top candlestick pattern on daily charts, Nifty showed good strength, which shows bulls are trying to enter from 5600-5650 area." Kinra added, "buying momentum may be seen if Nifty manages to hold above 5730 levels, or else profit booking may be seen." Kinra said the trend deciding level on Nifty was 5730.
Other markets in Asia were trading mostly in the green. Hong Kong's Heng Seng was up 183 points, at 24,337 bouyed by property shares as risk appetite increased on back of overnight gains on Wall Street.
Also, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rosed to eight-month highs as US earnings commenced on an upbeat lifting expectations for Japanese firms, the index was up 36 points, at 10,555. China's Shanghai Composite was up 29 points, at 2,737.
Among individual shares, HCL Technologies was up 4.4% at Rs 510, after it reported upbeat Q3 results. Net profit surged 12% , at Rs 28,597 cr against Rs 25,544 cr during the same quarter last year. From the Sensex shares Reliance Infrastructure also gained 4% on back of bargain buying. Tata Steel climbed 1.1% on reports that the steel maker issued 8.325 million shares to anchor investors at Rs 610 each. ONGC was up 0.3% on news that fuel subsidy bill would rise 21% in Q3.
BSE metal shares were leading the secotoral pack, the index was up 0.7%. Steel Authority og India gained 1.4%, Sterlite Industries and NMDC advanced over 1% each.
IT shares were leading the losses, Infosys dipped 1.5%, rivals TCS and Wipro fell 0.8% and 0.7% each.
Prominent gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra, up 1.5%, ICICI Bank, up 1.4% and Jaiprakash Associates, up 1.1%. Top losers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank, down 1.5%, BHEL, down 1.3% and Larsen & Tourbo fell 1.3%.
Broader markets were trading flat, the midcap and smallcap indices were up 0.2% each.