The markets continue to trade listless ahead of closing. After opening at 6303 today, the Nifty had been stuck in a tight range of 34 points, and is currently hovering at 6286 – down 16 points over its previous close. The Sensex is trading lower by 20 points at 20,909 levels.
Among individual stocks, Mahindra and Mahindra (up 3.4%), Tata Motors (up 3.3%) and Maruti (up 0.1%) are the key gainers in the auto pack besides Tata Motors, which surged over 4% in intraday deals on the back of strong Q2FY10 numbers. Gains were also visible in stock prices of tyre manufacturers on reports of a hike in product prices. Apollo tyres, Bharat Forge and MRF surged 1-2% each.
However, selling pressure was evident in select banks with Axis Bank, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank slipping over 1% each.
The broader markets continued to outperform their larger peers as the small-cap index moved up 0.8% to 11,148, while the midcap inched ahead by 0.4%.
Key gainers in the BSE 30 stocks include IT majors - Infosys and Wipro, besides Tata Motors and M&M. On the Sensex losers list are Hindalco – down nearly 1.5%, Bharti Airtel and Cipla and SBI.
In other Asian markets, Hang Seng closed down 0.8% at 24,500, while the Nikkei gained 1.4% to a four-month high at 9,830. Seoul Composite and Taiwan Weighted shut shop gaining 1% and 0.06%, respectively. Shanghai Composite dipped 0.6% after its trade surplus widened to $27.15 billion, more than expected. The European indices continue to trade in marginally weak after opening in the red. FTSE is trading down 0.1% followed by CAC losing 0.5% and DAX remaining flat at 6,783.
