Markets stuck in a range, Sensex up 80 pts

Bharti Airtel, ONGC and HDFC among the top gainers on the Sensex

Markets are stuck in a tight range in the late morning deals with the BSE S&P Sensex trading in a range of 120 points. The Sensex is up 83 points at 20,313 and the 50-share Nifty is up 29 points at 6,028. Markets opened on a firm note in trades today after rebounding from past two sessions of sharp losses.

Asian markets pared most of their early gains. Japan's Nikkei pared most of the early gains and was trading marginally higher. The Nikkei was up 0.2%. Among other indices in the region, Shanghai Composite was down 0.3% and Straits Times was down 0.2%. However, Hang Seng was up 0.5%.

Back home, Bharti Airtel is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stock has gained 2.3% at Rs 345, ONGC, HDFC, Gail India, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra are also trading higher by 1-2% each. On the other hand, Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite, Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp are among the notable losers.

On the sectoral front, BSE consumer durables index is the top gainer, the index is up 1.5% or 82 points at 5,667. BSE oil & gas, capital goods, PSU, bankex and power indices are also up 0.6-1% each. At the same time, led by losses in auto heavyweight stocks the BSE auto index is down 0.5% at 11,928. Some amount of selling pressure is visible in the metal stocks as well, the metal index is down 5 points.

According to Salil Sharma, technical analyst, partner Kapursharma.com, "the Nifty will encounter resistance at 6,043 which happens to be its 50 DMA and the next resistance after it would be 6,120. The major support on the lower side is be at 5,974 which was its last intermediate low. At the current levels the market is highly oversold and there is a good chance of recovery. For the November derivative series the Nifty could trade between 5950 - 6230."

Among the individual stocks, Gujarat Gas Company has dipped 6% to Rs 284 in early trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after turning ex-dividend today.

Vardhman Textiles has surged 8% to Rs 410 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock currently trading nears to its all-time high market price of Rs 420 touched in May 2006.

Shares of textile manufacturer has outperformed the market by appreciating 67% so far in the current calendar year 2013, compared to 4.5% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and 2.1% fall in BSE500 index.