The markets are heading closer to 2-year high levels with each passing day. Continuing from where they left on the previous day, the Sensex added another 85 points at 17644 and the Nifty put on 21 points at 5282 amid a range-bound, albeit choppy day of trade. And we are now within kissing distance of that coveted mark of 17825 on the Sensex and 5285 on the Nifty. The mid-cap index gained nearly 1% at 6762. The small-cap space, though, pared gains to end flat.
Auto stocks hogged the limelight. After correcting more than 7% in the previous three trading sessions, Tata Motors saw buying interest at lower levels to emerge as the top gainer on the Sensex. The auto major added 3.3% at Rs 749. M&M appreciated by 2.2% at Rs 1077 and Maruti was up 1.7% a Rs 1396.
The banking sector also did well, with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI adding more than 1% each at Rs 947, Rs 1948 and Rs 2072 respectively .
Moreover, FMCG bellweather Hindustan Unilever strengthened by 2.6% at Rs 237 and index heavyweight Reliance Industries added 0.7% at Rs 1099.
On the losers side, Reliance Infra weakened by 1.4% at Rs 1008, DLF shed 1.3% at Rs 295 and Bharti Airtel shed 1.1% at Rs 310.
The market breadth turned negative at close. Out of 2939 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1200 advancing stocks as against 1650 declines.
Tata Motors topped the value charts on the BSE with a total turnover of Rs 90.95 crore. This was followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 85.30 crore), SBI (Rs 75.09 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 65.01 crore) and DLF (Rs 44.43 crore).
Jaiprakash Associates led the volume charts with trades of 1.51 million. It was followed by DLF (1.49 million), Bharti Airtel (1.36 million), Hindalco (1.35 million) and Tata Motors (1.22 million).
