The markets continue its range bound movement, clearly shrugging off the positive opening in the European markets. The FTSE has gained 0.8% at 5,201, DAX is up 0.3% at 5,972 while CAC is flat at 3,508. The Asian indices too are stable. Hang Seng is up 0.5% and the Nikkei has gained 1.7%. The Sensex is at 18089, higher by 99 points and the Nifty is at 5433, adding 24 points.
Among the sectoral indices, the metal index has lost its early sheen and is at 1.4%, while the earlier gainers realty and auto have pared their gains. Health Care and Oil & Gas are up 0.6% each. There is no improvement in the Teck, FMCG and IT indices, which continue to be at the bottom of the chart.
The shares of most hotel companies such as EIH, Mahindra Holidays Resort, Hotel Leela, Indian Hotels, EIH Associated Hotels and Kamat Hotels are trading 2%-14% higher on reports that the hoteliers are expected to hike tariffs by 10-15% from September 2010. The major gainers in this space are EIH Associated Hotels up 12%, EIH up 10%. Mahindra Holidays and Resorts,Hotel Leela Ventures and
Indian Hotels up 3% each are some of the other gainers in this space.
Tata Steel and ONGC up nearly 3% continues to lead the Sensex gainers list. Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Maruti Suzuki up 1.5%-2% are the other noteable gainers.
On the other hand, the losers list remains the same as the previos hour.TCS down 1% is the top loser followed by ITC, Infosys, HDFC Bank,BHEL, Wipro and Hindustan Unilever shedding between 0.2%-0.7%.
Market breadth continues to be positive.Of the total 2949 stocks traded on the BSE, 1750 have advanced while 1095 have declined.