Indian equities markets were on Monday buoyed by short covering, even as the risks of upcoming global economic events and caution ahead of announcement of domestic inflation data subdued investors' sentiments.
Besides investors were spooked by upcoming monetary policy reviews in the US and Britain and a further surge in oil prices post the agreement between OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC members.
Both the Indian indices traded on a flat-to-positive note during the mid-afternoon trade session, as healthy buying was witnessed in automobile, consumer durables and oil and gas stocks.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched up by 10.90 points or 0.13 per cent to 8,181.70 points.
Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,607.65 points, traded at 26,583.09 points (at 1.30 p.m.) -- up 67.85 points or 0.26 per cent from the previous close at 26,515.24 points.
The Sensex has touched a high of 26,620.06 points and a low of 26,494.23 points during the intra-day trade so far.
The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,184 advances and 1,219 declines.
"Both the equity markets and the Indian rupee are rangebound as investors await the US FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meet on Wednesday," Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Hem Securities, told IANS.
"Investors are cautious ahead of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) numbers for November and expecting a fall in the inflation rate."
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the CNX Nifty traded almost flat due to short covering.
"IT stocks witnessed some recovery from lower levels, while banking stocks traded down due to continuous selling pressure," Desai said.
"Oil-gas and aviation stocks faced resistance at higher levels, while textile, media-entertainment, FMCG, cement and power stocks traded with bearish sentiments due to selling pressure."
On Monday, the equity markets had slipped on the back of profit booking and negative domestic cues.
The barometer index was down 231.94 points or 0.87 per cent at 26,515.24 points, while the NSE Nifty slipped by 90.95 points or 1.10 per cent to 8,170.80 points.
--IANS
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