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Markets continued to trade in a choppy fashion, with the Sensex trading up 63 points at 20,174. Nifty is up 17 points at 6,130. Buying interest in banking shares and positive global cues buoyed markets higher this morning.
Bank of Japan concluded its two-day policy meet with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda giving a go-ahead to monthly bond purchases in order to achieve 2 per cent inflation target.
Investors are now looking forward to US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to US lawmakers and the minutes of the Fed's May meeting, both due later today for further clarification on stimulus measures and economic growth.
Asian shares gained momentum with Japan's Nikkei up 2% and Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.5%. Trading on Hong Kong equity markets will be delayed due to a storm warning. The Shanghai Composite was trading flat with negative bias.
BSE FMCG index has added 1% at 6,707. Healthcare, capital goods, IT indices are up 0.5% each. However, realty index has slipped 1.5% at 1,966. Oil & gas index has dropped 1.3%, PSU and power indices are in red as well.
Sun Pharma has added 3.5% at Rs 1,007. Dr Reddy's, Coal India and Bharti Airtel added 1.5-2.2% each. NTPC is up 1.2% at Rs 154. ITC has advanced 1.2%, followed by SBI, Jindal Steel and Tata Motors.
However, Larsen & Toubro has slipped 2.5% at Rs 1,565. The company has just reported a net sales at Rs 20,294 crore.
ONGC, Gail and BHEL are down 1% each. Market heavyweight Reliance has slipped 1% at Rs 819.
Out of 2,245 stocks traded, 1,141 shares declined while 973 shares advanced in trades.
