Markets edge higher; IT pack lead

Caution remained ahead of global central banks meet later today

Markets added gains in afternoon session this Thursday led by buying in software stocks. Investors, however, remained cautious ahead of the meetings of central banks of Britain and the euro zone for any signs of monetary stimulus to boost growth into the fragile global economy.

 

At 2:15PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex gained 56 points to trade at 19,301.07 while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty added 12 points at 5,831.30. 

 

Asian markets also paused after two day gains with China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 1% to 2,324 , Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.02% to 3,292 , Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.04% to 22,768 while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.3% to 11,968.

 

Back home, among sectors, oil & gas, metals, autos, bankex led decline while IT, technology, real-estate, capital goods, healthcare and FMCG declined on BSE.

 

Hero MotoCorp gained 3% and was the top Sensex gainer after Kotak Institutional Equities upgrades the stock to "add" from "sell".

 

The other gainers included IT names like TCS, Wipro, Infosys gaining 1-2%, trading near their 52-week highs.

 

Sun Pharma, BHEL, L&T too added 1-1.5%.

 

Meanwhile, metal names continued to remain weak with Jindal Steel, Hindalco and Tata Steel, down 2-3% and were the top losers among the Sensex-30.

 

Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Gail India and HDFC down 0.7-1.5% were the other prominent losers.

 

The broader markets gained with mid-caps and small- caps rising 0.1-0.2% on BSE.

 

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,729 stocks traded , 1,378 stocks declined compared to 1,223 advances on BSE.