)
Markets came off their day's highs in noon trades on Monday after investors booked profit at higher levels while IT majors weakened following the recent developments at Infosys. However, rate sensitive shares remained firm with realty shares leading the pack after RBI maintained status quo on key policy rates last week.
At 1:30PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 57 points at 21,137 after hitting a high of 21,208 and the 50-share Nifty was up 21 points at 6,295 after touching an intra-day high of 6,311.
"Nifty for December series looking for consolidation in range of 6250 to 6350 zone, with Expiry view for December near to 6300 levels. Traders should look to sell 6300 Straddle for Dec series," says Navneet Daga, derivative analyst at KR Choksey Securities.
The Indian rupee was trading higher at Rs 61.97 compared to its previous close of Rs 92.04 on Friday tracking gains in most Asian markets. Asian currencies are trading mixed versus the dollar.
Asian markets were trading firm tracking gains in the global markets over the weekend. With Japanese markets closed on account of Emperor's Birthday activity on the bourses remained subdued. Shanghai COmposite, Hang Seng and Straits Times were up 0.2-0.5% each.
The BSE Realty index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 3.7% followed by Capital Goods, COnsumer Durables, Metal and Bankex among others.
Index heavyweights came off their day's highs amid profit taking at higher levels. ITC, ICICI Bank, L&T, Reliance, ONGC, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and SBI were among the top Sensex gainers. Reliance Ind had recently gained on the back of gas price hike. Axis Bank was up nearly 2% after the stock was admitted to the Sensex.
Realty shares were in demand on hopes that steady interest rates would lead to revival of demand for new homes. According to reports, realtors are saddled with huge inventories as buyers are staying away because of high costs.
DLF was up 5% at Rs 171, HDIL was up 9%, Dewan Housing gained 7%, Indiabulls Housing was up 7%, Puravankara Projects was up 6% and Unitech gained 4%.
However, IT shares were down after sentiment in the sector remained subdued after the resignation of V Balakrishnan, director at Infosys. INfosys was down 2.5% while TCS slipped 0.5%.
Other Sensex losers include, HDFC and Mah&Mah.
Among other shares, Shares of GMR Infrastructure were up nearly 2% at Rs 23.40 after the company said it has signed a joint development agreement with International Finance Corporation for the construction of the prestigious 600MW Upper Marsyangdi-2 hydropower in Nepal.
Shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction were up nearly 2% after the company late Friday said it has won a railway project.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 1% each.
Market breadth was strong with 1499 gainers and 822 losers on the BSE.
