Markets remain volatile in early trades, IT shares lead

Benchmark share indices remained volatile in a narrow range in early trades on Thursday

Benchmark shares indices were trading in narrow range in early trades on Thursday as gains in IT majors helped offset losses in private banking majors and ITC.

At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 33 points at 20,928 and the 50-share Nifty was up 12 points at 6,227.

Key Asian indices except for Straits Times were trading marginally lower as investors turned cautious ahead of the ECB meeting and US GDP data to be released later in the day. The Straits Times was up 0.05%. The Nikkei was down 0.7%. China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.3% while Hang Seng was down 0.7%.

US benchmark share indices ended mixed on Wednesday with the Dow Jones ending at a new record high led by technology shares such as Microsoft and IBM.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 129 points, or 0.8%, to end at 15,746.88. The

Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 7 points, or 0.4% higher, at 1,770.49. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 8 points or 0.2% at 3,931.95.

Key European shares ended with marginal gains on Wednesday after upbeat economic data as UK factory output increased to 0.9% in September from August. The CAC-40 gained 34 points to end at 4,286.93, the DAX rose 32 points to end at 9,040.87 while the FTSE-100 ended flat with negative bias at 6,741.69 weighed down by selling pressure in Experian Plc.

At 9:25AM, The Indian rupee was trading lower at Rs 62.56 compared to Wednesday's close of Rs 62.39 to the US dollar.

The BSE IT and Healthcare indices were up 0.6-0.9% each while Capital Goods, Power and Bankex were among the top losers in early trades.

Private banking majors ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank along with FMCG major ITC were among the top Sensex losers.

BHEL was down 4%. The country’s largest power equipment manufacturer reported 64 per cent net profit drop in the September quarter — its fifth straight quarter of decline in profits. Slowdown in fresh orders, coupled with high fixed cost, pulled its net profit down to Rs 455 crore, against Rs 1,274 crore in the same period last year.

Among other shares, Wockhardt was up nearly 7% after the UK regulator allowed the Company to manufacture and supply most of the products manufactured from the company's Nani Daman facility.

Market breadth was positive with 671 gainers and 314 losers on the BSE.