)
After a brief spell in the negative territory, markets regained some of its lost ground and are flat with a positive bias aided by gains in ITC, Coal India and ONGC.
Markets have been flat with a very tight range for most part of the trading session thus far. At 1410 hrs, the Sensex was up four points at 20,961 and the Nifty was up eight points at 6,249.
However, broader markets retained its early gains with the midcap index up 0.5% and the smallcap index added 0.3%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was flat.
The rupee was marginally higher for a third session, tracking euro gains after the ECB gave no indication of policy easing. The pair is at 61.67 versus 61.75 Thursday close.
On the sectoral front, Bankex, Realty and IT indices were marginally in the red with losses upto 0.1%.
Meanwhile, Power index up 2% and Consumer Durables up 1.6% were the top sectoral gainers.
Capital Goods, Metal, Auto, FMCG and Health Care indices added 0.3-0.7%.
HDFC group stocks and Bharti Airtel down 1-1.5% were the top losers among Sensex-30.
Hindalco, HUL, RIL, Infosys, Tata Steel and ICICI Bank down 0.1-0.9% rounded off the losers list.
Among the gainers in afternoon deals were Tata Power, Coal india, NTPC and Hero MotoCorp, all up 2-4%.
Sesa Sterlite, ONGC, Jindal Steel, Dr Reddys Lab, ITC, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, BHEL and TCS up 0.5-1.4% were the other notable gainers.
Shares of sugar manufacturer are trading higher on the bourses ahead of group of ministers meeting today to discuss a bailout package for cash-starved sugar mills and to ensure timely payments to cane growers.
Oudh Sugar Mills, Bajaj Hindustan, Shree Renuka Sugars, Balrampur Chini Mills, Mawana Sugar, Jeypore Sugar, Dhampur Sugar Mills and Dwarikesh Sugar are up 2-5%.
The market breadth was psoitive.1248 stocks advanced while 1114 stocks declined on the BSE.
Global Markets
Asian shares spent much of the day in a state of suspended animation as tension mounted ahead of jobs data that could make or break the case for an imminent scaling back in U.S. stimulus.
Government borrowing costs from Japan to Australia hit fresh highs on trepidation the Federal Reserve could start tapering its $85 billion of monthly debt purchases at its policy meeting on December 17 and 18.
Japan's Nikkei at least managed to steady after steep falls the previous two days. It closed up 0.8% on Friday, outperforming the rest of Asia.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while Shanghai stocks slipped 0.5% .SSEC as China set its yuan at a record high, continuing the slow appreciation of the currency.
However the European markets over looked the cautious mood looked and started in the green. CAC, DAX and FTSE added 0.1-0.5%.
