Markets remain volatile in narrow range, Midcap up 1%

Benchmark indices remain volatile in a narrow range with Sensex and Nifty making wild swing between negative and positive zone.

At 14:00 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 53 point to trade at 18,573 and the 50-share Nifty up 11points at 5,483 levels.

On the global front, Asian stocks rose and gold hit a near three-month high on Monday, extending a move started late last week when a steep drop in U.S. new home sales tempered expectations the Federal Reserve will soon reduce stimulus.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.5 percent, adding to Friday's 0.8 percent gain.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.7 percent, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index edged up 0.2 percent and South Korea's KOSPI put on 1.0 percent.

Back home, the rupee weakened on Monday, tracking weaker offshore rates, as sustained foreign selling in equities continued to raise concerns about the gaping current account deficit. The rupee was trading at 64.13/$

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram met foreign investors on Saturday to seek suggestions on attracting dollar inflows, according to local media reports.

On the sectoral front, BSE Metal index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like IT, Power, TECk, Healthcare and FMCG, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas, Bankex and Auto indices have declined by 1% each.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include NTPC, Hindalco, Wipro, BHEL, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Coal India, Hero Moto and TCS, all gaining between 2-3%.

On the losing side, GAIL, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and M&M hace fallen between 2-3%.

The broader markets are out performing the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up nearly 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 1,163 shares advancing and 940 shares declining.