Nifty ends below 6,300 on Dec expiry

Last hour gains in HDFC Bank, Infosys and ONGC help the indices to end marginally higher

Markets closed marginally in the green with the Sensex up 42 points at 21,075 and the Nifty gained 10 points to end the day at 6,278 as traders rolled over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month December 2013 series to January 2014 series.

Gains in names like HDFC Bank, Infosys and ONGC in the last hour of trade helped the benchmark indices to close in the positive territory.

Through the day, the benchmark indices traded in a narrow range, briefly slipping into the negative territory in noon deals. The Nifty touched a high of 6,303 and slipped to a low of 6,270 in intra-day trades.

Meanwhile, the broader markets remained resilient with the smallcap index adding over 1% and the midcap index gained 0.4%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 0.2%.

Rupee

The rupee is trading weaker at 61.98 versus its close of 61.79/80 on Tuesday, with dollar demand from oil firms hurting. Traders expect exporters to step up dollar selling around 62-62.05 levels, limiting very sharp gains from current levels.

Sectors & Stocks

Among the sectoral indices, Realty, Auto and Health Care were the only indices to close in the negative territory, losing 0.1-0.5%.

Power index 1% followed by Consumer Durables, Bankex, Metal, IT and Tech indices which added 0.3-0.9% were the notable index gainers.

Tata Power up 4% was the top Sensex-30 gainer for the day.

From the oil & Gas space, ONGC and Gail India up 2.3% and 0.6% were the notable gainers.ONGC gained on reports that the petroleum ministry seeks to cut subsidy burden.

HDFC Bank and Axis Bank closed in the green with gains of 1.8% and 1.2%.

IT heavyweights, Infosys and Wipro closed higher up 1.4% and 0.8%.

Tata Steel, BHEL, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma which added 0.6-1.5% rounded off the gainers list.

Auto shares had a bad day with all the major names closing in the red. Bajaj Auto down 2% was the top loser followed by Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki down 0.2-1.7%.

Pharma stocks like Dr Reddys Lab and Cipla slipped by 0.2-2%.

Index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, TCS, L&T, SBI, HDFC and HUL were weaker by 0.2-1%.

In individual names, Bosch soared 8% to Rs 10,614, on buzz that the parent company may hike stake in the company.

Dena Bank jumped 4.4% at Rs 61.6 after the company in its extraordinary general meeting on 24th December decided to issue 11.85 crore preferential shares to government at Rs 59.03/share after the government infused capital funds worth Rs 700 crore into the public sector bank.

Liberty Shoes gained 13% to Rs 156, extending its past six days rally, on back of heavy volumes.

Shares of Amtek Group companies - Amtek India and Amtek Auto rallied over 10% each on acquisition of Germany's Kuepper group of companies.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE owing to gains in the broader markets. 1629 stocks advanced while 902 stocks declined.

Asian Markets

Tokyo's Nikkei share average climbed to a more than six-year high, driven by buying from retail investors as tax-free investment accounts aimed at driving Japanese savings into stocks kicked off.

The Nikkei ended 1% higher at 16,174.44, its highest since November 2007, while the broader Topix index was up 1.7% at 1,279.34, with 2.66 billion share changing hands, hitting its highest in four sessions.

On the other hand, Chinese shares closed down on Thursday on worries over liquidity conditions after the central bank declined to inject funds into the money market.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed down 1.6% while the CSI300 index of the top Shanghai and Shenzhen listings dropped 1.7%.

Hong Kong markets were closed for Christmas.