Sensex moves sideways; metal index up 2%

The Sensex is now moving sideways after touching a high of 17,530. The markets are holding on to their gains on the back of buying in the metal and auto stocks. The BSE benchmark index is now at 17,490, up 80 points and the Nifty is at 5,241, up 18 points.

Among the Sensex-30 stocks, Sterlite Industries has gained 3.5% at Rs 698.

Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, up 2.5% each at Rs 781 and Rs 620,respectively.

The other major gainers are HDFC, HDFC Bank, TCS and DLF, up 1% each.

While Hindustan Unilever and Tata Power have declined 1% each to Rs 257 and Rs 1,257, respectively. The other marginal losers are ACC, NTPC and ITC, down 0.5% each.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,313 shares traded, 1,4have advanced and 750 have declined so far on the BSE.

The BSE midcap and the smallcap indices are up 0.5% each. United Breweries(Holdings) and Gammon Infrastructure have rallied 7% each on the midcap index.

Bajaj Hindustan Sugar and TTK Prestige have gained 19% and 14%, respectively on the smallcap index.

Among the sectoral gainers, the metal and the auto indices have advanced 1.5% each on the BSE.

Sterlite Industries and Hindustan Zinc have advanced 3% each to Rs 695 and Rs 1,010, respectively on the metal index.