Markets witness selective buying

It's been a dull day so far, with the markets moving in an extremely narrow range. The BSE Sensex index is almost unchanged at 18,564 and S&P Nifty is at 5,558, having shed three points.

However, around 34 stocks have touched their respective life-time highs on the BSE this morning - including stocks like HDFC Bank, Nestle India, Cadila Healthcare, Petronet LNG and Amara Raja Batteries. HDFC Bank hit a new high of Rs 519 on the BSE. Last week, the bank had sub-divided face value of its equity shares to Rs 2 from Rs 10 paid-up earlier. Tomorrow, the bank is scheduled to announce its quarterly results.

Hindalco Industries, BHEL, Tata Power, HDFC Bank and DLF are the top movers on the Sensex, having gained 2-3% each. Hindalco Industries has moved higher by 3% to Rs 182 on reports that an Environment Ministry panel has recommended clearance to the company's coal mine project in Sambalpur, Orissa for doubling its capacity to three MTPA.

Cipla, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank are the top losers on the Sensex.

VST Industries has rallied 7% to Rs 1,269, also its lifetime high after reporting a 90% year-on-year growth in net profit at Rs 34.22 crore for Q1FY12. Bata India, Elantas Beck, TVS Srichakra, Setco Automotive, AVT Natural Products and Camlin Fine Chemicals are among other notable stocks trading at their lifetime highs.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE IT, BSE TECk and BSE Oil&Gas are the top losers haivng shed, 0.5%, 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Tata Consultancy, Infosys, Wipro and Core Projects & Technologies are the top losers in the IT space.

The BSE Realty index has gained the most at 2,212, up 1.2%. BSE Power and BSE Metal are follow closely, up 1%, each.

The broader markets are trading on a firm note with BSE mid-cap index at 7,047, having advanced 0.6% and the small-cap index at 8,422, up 0.7%.

The overall market breadth is positive with 1,612 stocks advancing and 971 declining out of a total 2,710 stocks on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Asian markets are trading on a mixed note with the Shanghai Composite at 2,809, down 0.4%,the Hang Seng index at 21,841, down 0.2% and the Nikkei at 9,95, having gained 0.4%.