Markets end tad higher led by IT

Markets ended marginally higher, amid a volatile trading session on Monday, led by IT majors amid a weakening rupee. However, profit booking was seen at higher levels as higher-than-expected headline inflation in September continued to weigh on market sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 79 points at 20,608 and the 50-share Nifty gained 17 points to close at 6,113.

Headline inflation for September continued to be above 6% as onions continued to weigh, according to data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry today. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at a seven-month high of 6.46% in September against 6% in August. This is well above various analysts' prediction of 6%.

The weakness in the rupee continued in afternoon trades amid dollar demand by importers.

At 3:55pm the rupee was trading at Rs 61.37 compared with previous close of Rs 61.08 per dollar. Currency dealers see the rupee trading in the range of Rs 61.00 to Rs 62.00 per dollar for the rest of the day. According to them the bias will be towards weakening due to dollar demand.

Asian benchmark share indices ended mixed on Monday. The Shanghai COmposite ended up 0.4%. Straits Times ended 0.5% lower. Stock markets in Hong Kong and Japan were closed today.

The BSE IT index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2.3% followed by Bankex, Oil & Gas and Auto indices.

Gains in shares of software exporters such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS, up 1.5-4.3% each, contributed the most to the Sensex. TCS was up 4.3% ahead of its second quarter earnings later today. most of the analyst expects TCS to post best revenue growth amongst peers at 5.8% quarter-on-quarter in dollar terms.

Index Reliance Industries ended up 0.8% ahead of its Jul-Sep results later today. Analyts said that the company is expected to post net profit numbers in the Range Rs 5,400 - 5,500 crore. Last quarter, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 5,353 crore, up 18.9% on year-on-year basis.

Other Sensex gainers include, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and Hero MotoCorp.

FMCG shares, ITC and Hindustan Unilever were the top Sensex losers along with HDFC and Hindalco.

Among other shares, Shares of mid-and-small sized banks such has Karnataka Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, South Indian Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Development Credit Bank and Karur Vysya Bank gained sharply today after the RBI governor said that foreign banks to enter India and also be allowed to takeover domestic banks.

MindTree gained 5.3% after FIIs increased stake to 45.18% in September quarter compared with 39.44% holding at the end of June quarter.

Shares of Wockhardt ended down 5% after UK’s medicines regulator withdrew its certification to its unit, which generated annual revenues of GBP 12 million (about Rs 117 crore).

TTK Prestige ended down 2.5% after reporting a flat net profit of Rs 30.30 crore for the second quarter of financial year 2013-14 compared with Rs 30.28 crore in the same period last year.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended up 0.5-0.6% each.

Market breadth ended positive with 1,291 gainers and 1,130 losers on the BSE.