Markets turn choppy; select index heavyweights weigh

Benchmark indices are trading marginally higher as losses in select index heavyweights like, Infosys and ICICI Bank have capped gains at higher levels.

Some volatility is expected later in the session as traders will remain cautious in a truncated week ahead of the F&O expiry on Wednesday.
 
At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 28 points at 27,398 and the 50-share Nifty was up 5 points at 8,230.

In the broader market, both BSE midcap and smallcap indices have performed better than the front-liners with gains of 0.4% each. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 829 advances against 438 declines.

 "For the day, Nifty needs to hold above 8,175 levels to continue the up move towards 8,280 then 8,320 levels. On the downside immediate support is at, 8,175 levels and below that profit booking may drag the index towards 8,120 and then 8,100 levels," technical analysts at Anand Rathi said in a morning note.
 
Meanwhile, selling by foreign institutional investors continued unabated and they were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 668.85 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Buzzing Stocks

BSE Metal index with gains over 1% is the top gainer followed by BSE FMCG index. BSE IT and Teck indices are marginally down by 0.1%.

Metal stocks have gained in opening deals. Sesa Sterlite has gained around 3% while Tata Steel has gained around 0.5%.

HDFC Bank has gained around 0.7% after Foreign Investment Promotion Board  cleared its proposal to raise Rs 10,000 crore, ending months of struggle by India's most valuable bank by market cap to enhance its capital base.

Bajaj Auto has gained around 1% on bagging an order for 1.25 lakh units of Discover-125M motorcycles from Sri Lankan government.

Among index heavyweights, ICICI Bank has lost over 1% while Infosys has lost around 0.5%

Asian markets are mostly trading higher. While Nikkei is largely flat, Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices have gained over 1% each.

 
On Friday, US stocks ended higher and the S&P 500 came within a few points of its closing record high. The index has gained 5% since Wednesday for its best three-day stretch since 2011. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.15% while the S&P 500 gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%.