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Markets traded marginally in green after opening soft as investor sentiments remained subdued due to weak macro-economic situation coupled with global growth woes. The Sensex was up 24 points at 18,,474. Nifty was unchanged at 5,555.
On the global front, the yen tumbled and Japanese stocks soared on Monday as the Bank of Japan lost no time embarking on its ambitious stimulus drive, but U.S. weak jobs data and regional risks such as the bird flu and North Korea weighed on other assets. The Nikkei surged 2.8% at 13,193. Hang Seng and Taiwan Weighted however shed 0.6-2.3% each.
Back home, the rupee continued to rule firm against the American currency in the late morning trade and was quoted up by 11 paise to 54.70 per dollar on selling of dollars by banks and exporters.
BSE IT index has slipped 1.2% at 6,649. The firm rupee has taken IT shares down as US is one of the key markets for Indian IT firms.
BSE Capital goods, metal and bankex are down 0.1-0.4% each. Meanwhile, buying interest can be seen in consumer durables and healthcare shares. Both indices have gained over 1% each to 7,029 and 8,297, respectively. Oil & gas, power and realty shares are also in the positive zone.
BHEL has jumped 2.3% at Rs 182 on news that the company's turnover increased to Rs 50,015 crore during 2012-13 from Rs 49,510 crore in the previous fiscal. However, the state-owned power plant equipment manufacturer posted an 8% drop in net profit for the quarter ended March 2013. It was Rs 6,485 crore as against Rs 7,040 crore in the year-ago period.
Reliance Communication (RCom) added 5.6% at Rs 66.55 on BSE on reports that the telecom services provider is planning to sell its majority stake in its subsidiary Reliance Globalcom to Bahrain Telecommunications Company for Rs 6,000 crore.
Bank of Baroda declined 0.33%. The bank has decided to revise interest rates on some term deposits of less than Rs 1 crore with effect from 6 April 2013. Ashok Leyland fell 0.23%. The company reported a 2% decline in total sales at 14,020 units in March 2013 over March 2012.
