Market momentum loses steam

The markets continue its lacklustre trade with the Nifty up 40 points at 5,800 and the Sensex gained 150 points at 19,357. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), IT is up 0.7%, Banking and Infrastructure up 0.5% each while Realty and Nifty Junior is down 0.8% and 0.04% respectively.

In the international market, Asian stocks edged up while the yen jumped to a 15-year high on Tuesday after an election in Japan kept the status quo, leaving unclear whether a rally that lifted global equities to a four-month high can stay alive.

On the other hand, the European shares slipped, with some caution ahead of data from Germany and the United States. By 1 pm, the pan-European FTS Eurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.1 per cent at 1,087.42 points, after closing on Monday at its highest level
since late April.

The gainers on the NSE are Kotak Mahindra Bank up 4% followed by Reliance Capital at 3.5%, Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors and Cipla adding 3% each.

On the losing side on the NSE are Ambuja Cements, Hindalco Industries and ACC down 2% each followed by State Bank of India, NTPC, GAIL, Jindal Steel and Unitech shedding 0.7% each.