)
Markets remained choppy in noon trades ahead of May F&O expiry. The benchmark indices marginally slipped into the negative territory as profit booking in HDFC, Tata Motors and ONGC weighed on the indices.
At 1420 hrs, the Sensex was down 18 points at 24,530 and teh Nifty was flat at 7,324, with a five point gain.
Meanwhile, the broader markets saw some significant buying. The small cap index gained nearly 2% and the midcap index rose 0.4%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was flat with a negative bias.
Sectors & Stocks
On the sectoral front, Metal index slipped over 1% along with Oil & Gas, Auto, FMCG and Consumer Durables indices, all down 0.1-0.6%.
On the other hand, IT index gained 1.2% and was the top sectoral mover. Realty and Capital Goods indices edged higher by 0.7-0.9%.
Tata Power, Hero MotoCorp, BHEL, HDFC Bank and Dr Reddys Lab up 2-3% were the top gainers among Sensex-30.
Bharti Airtel, Wipro, L&T, Infosys, TCS and Maruti Suzuki which added 0.7-1.4% were the other significant movers.
Meanwhile, profit taking in Gail India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Coal India and ONGC puleed teh scrips lower by 2-3%.
HDFC, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and NTPC down 1-1.5% were some of the other significant names in red.
The market breadth was positive owing to the strength in broader markets. 1780 stocks advanced while 1055 stocks declined.
Global Markets
Strong economic data in the United States shored up Asian stocks to one-year highs on Wednesday; with another record close for the S&P 500 underpinning risk appetite and sending safe-haven gold to 3-1/2 month lows.
Riskier asset markets sped up overnight after the United States reported an unexpected rise in durable goods orders in April and higher home prices for March. Services industries, which dominate the economy, also grew at a rapid clip in May.
The sunny mood saw MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan scale a fresh one-year high, up 0.6%. Tokyo's Nikkei ticked up 0.4%, and South Korean shares rose 0.8%.
