Markets remain range-bound; Metals shine

Benchmark indices continue to remain volatile in a narrow range with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone.

At 14:25 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 4 points at 21,836 and 50-share Nifty was up 8 points at 6,525.

The main gainers on the Sensex are Hindalco, Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and HDFC.

On the losing side, Tata Power, TCS, M&M, ONGC and Infosys have declined between 2-4%.


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Updated at 13:04

Market came off its day's high in early afternoon trades dragged down by software heavyweights Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

TCS said in an meeting with analysts on Tuesday that it expects a weak fourth quarter. TCS has based its comments on potential impact from seasonally slower demand in its biggest markets and continued demand volatility in Indian market, said reports. However, the company indicated that it expects its revenue growth next financial year to exceed that of the industry. 

Last week, management of Infosys said that the company will be able to meet the lower end of its guidance in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2013-14 (FY'14).

Private bank shares however helped offset losses from IT majors . The benchmark Nifty is witnessing strong psychological support at 6,500 levels. ITC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are the top Sensex gainers at this hour.

At 1:10pm, the 30-share Sensex was up 15 points at 21,848 and 50-share Nifty was up 11 points at 6,527.

Foreign institutional investors continue to remain positive on Indian equities after they remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,012 crore on Tuesday as per the provisional data on the stock exchanges.

The Indian rupee was trading higher at Rs 61.08 against the US dollar versus the previous close of Rs 61.19 on talk that foreign banks are selling dollars, likely for their FII clientele. Meanwhile, the dollar continues to trade soft ahead of the Federal Reserve policy review.

Stocks in Asia continued to remain subdued as investors adopted a wait-and-watch stance over the situtation in Ukraine and ahead of the Federal Reserve policy review later today. Japan's benchmark share index Nikkei rebounded from the day's lows led by realty stocks on talk that land prices in large cities have increased. Nikkei was up 0.8%. Shanghai Composite slipped 0.6% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.2% and Straits Times was down 0.7%.

BSE Metal index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2.1% followed by FMCG, Bankex, Capital Goods and Healthcare indices. However, IT index continues to remain the top loser down 2.4%.

Banks which are a proxy to the economy firmed up after Morgan Stanley revised the growth projection for 2014 to 5.2% from 5.1% earlier, forecasting a marginal improvement in India's economy.

Private bankers Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were up 0.8-2.7% each while mortgage lender HDFC was up 1.7%.

Index heavyweights ITC was up 1% contributing the most to gains on the Sensex.

In the metal space, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite were up 2-4% each.

IT majors were among the top losers in today's trade with TCS down over 4% and Infosys slipped 2%. TCS witnessed profit taking after the company in an analyst meet on Tuesday, 18 March 2014, reportedly said that growth in Q4 March 2014 is likely to be subdued.

Tata Power, ONGC and select auto stocks were the other Sensex losers.

Among other shares, Ashok Leyland rose 1.14% to Rs 17.70 at 10:18 IST on BSE after the company said it sold 50 lakh shares of IndusInd Bank on Tuesday, 18 March 2014, through a combination of bulk deal and normal trading.

State Bank of Travancore surged 8% to Rs 399 after the board fixed April 4 as the record date for payment of interim dividend, if declared. The bank had earlier informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank will be held on March 21, 2014, to consider declaration of Interim Dividend, preferential allotment of shares and rights issue to the shareholders of the bank.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.4%-0.5% each.

Market breadth was positive with 1,236 gainers and 1,018 losers on the BSE.