Markets trading in a tight range, IT spurts 1%

Key share indices continue to remain volatile in a narrow range, oscillating between negative and positive terrain.
 
By 1020 Sensex was down 28 points at 19,225 and the 50-share Nifty was down 13 points at 5,805.
 
On the global front, Asian shares fell after two strong days of gains on Thursday, as investors focused on meetings of the central banks of Japan, Britain and the euro zone for signs of more policy stimulus, while solid US economic data underpinned the dollar.
 
Japan's Nikkei stock average was one major exception, soaring to its highest since late September 2008, cheered by another all-time high close for the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday.
 
Back home, the rupee today lost 18 paise to 54.90 in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to renewed dollar demand from importers and appreciation of the US currency overseas.
 
On the sectoral front, BSE IT, TECk, Capital Goods and Realty indices have surged by almost 1% each. However, BSE Metal, Oil & gas and Auto indices are down by nearly 1% each.
 
The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour Hero Moto, Wipro, Sun Pharma, L&T, TCS, BHEL, Infosys and Cipla, all gaining between 1-3%.
 
On the losing side, JSPL, Tata Motors, HUL, Hindalco and Tata Steel have declined between 1-2%.
 
Shares of information technology (IT) companies are continuous in focus in past couple of trading sessions with most of the frontline stocks are trading at their 52-week highs on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
 
Infosys and Wipro are trading at their 52-week highs, while HCL Technologies and TCS are quoting at their historic highs on BSE.
 
Among the individual stocks, Infosys is up 1.2% at Rs 3,000, its highest level since April 2011 on BSE.
 
Among other shares, Elder Pharmaceuticals has rallied almost 5% to Rs 335 after the company said that it will form a joint venture (JV) company with the Japanese cosmetics major, Kose Corporation to manufacture and market cosmetic products for Indian market.
 
Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) is trading lower by 3.4% at Rs 1,020 on reports that the NYSE Euronext (NYX) will sell its entire stake in the country's largest commodity exchange via block deal today.
 
The broader markets are trading flat with positive bias. The market breadth in BSE remains marginally positive with 986 advancing and 915 shares declining.