Markets continue to trade flat; Tata Power up 3%

Markets continued to trade flat in late trades on Tuesday, the last trading day of 2013, as gains in Reliance Industries and TCS helped offset losses in Infosys and HDFC group shares.

At 2:20PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 26 points at 21,168 and the 50-share Nifty was up 10  points at 6,301.

The rupee was trading strong in afternoon trades amid thin dollar demand.

At 2PM the rupee was trading at Rs 61.84 compared with previous close of Rs 61.92 per dollar.

Currency dealers see the rupee trading strong for the rest of the day due to lack of significant dollar demand.

Asian markets witnessed range bound trades amid thin volumes because of lacklustre participation from investors as most markets in the region were closed. Japan's Nikkei yesterday recorded the highest gain in the region during 2013 up 57%, the highest rise in four decades. Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%, Straits Times rose 0.4%, and Hang Seng was up 0.3%.

European shares marginally up amid low volumes with some markets closed while others will have half-day trading session. The CAC-40 and FTSE-100 were marginally up 0.3% each while Germany's DAX was closed for trading.

BSE Power, Oil and Gas were among the top performers among the sectoral indices while Consumer Durables, Capital Goods were the top gainers.

In the oil and gas space, Reliance Industries was up 1%. Other Sensex gainers include, TCS, Tata Power, Tata Motors and L&T.

Infosys was marginally down amid profit taking after recent gains.

In the financial space, HDFC Bank and mortgage lender HDFC also witnessed profit taking and were down 0.3-0.8% each.

Among other shares, GMR Infrastructure is trading higher by 3% at Rs 25 in otherwise subdued market after the company said it has agreed to sell its entire 40% stake in Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport for Euro 225 million (approx Rs 1,918 crore) to Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhard.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap was up 0.5% and the Small-cap index was up 0.3%.

Market breadth was positive with 1,398 gainers and 1,029 losers on the BSE.