Markets end marginally higher

Markets ended marginally higher on Friday, amid a range bound trading session, as profit taking in Infosys and HDFC capped upside gains.

The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 43 points to end at 28,122 and the 50-share Nifty gained 21 points to close at 8,515.

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(Updated at 14:33PM)

Benchmark indices are trading positive amid choppy trades led by buying among Capital Goods, FMCG and Consumer Durables shares.

At 14.33 PM, the 30-share Sensex is up 48 points at 28,124 and the 50-share Nifty is up 17 points at 8,511.

Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.2-1%. The market breadth in BSE remains marginally negative with 1,403 shares advancing and 1,362 shares declining.

Further, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 1738.24 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Among global markets, Japan's Nikkei share average skidded on Friday in volatile trade as risk appetite was dampened by a strong yen after Switzerland stunned markets by abandoning its cap on the franc.

The Nikkei ended 1.4 percent lower at 16,864.16 after earlier sliding to 16,592.57, the lowest level since Oct.31, when the Bank of Japan unexpectedly eased monetary policy.

The Swiss National Bank scrapped its cap on the franc in a sudden move, pushing the Swiss currency up sharply, depressing the euro and stoking demand for the safe-haven yen.

Back home, BSE Consumer Durables and Power indices have gained between 1.5-2.5%. Sectors like Capital Goods, FMCG, Healthcare, Metal and Realty have gained by 1% each.

The top gainers on the Sensex are Coal India, Sesa Sterlite, Sun Pharma, BHEL, M&M, L&T, Dr Reddy’s Labs and HDFC Bank.

HDFC Bank has extended gains from yesterday and is up over 1%. Axis Bank is trading higher by nearly 1% post of its Q3 results. Axis Bank today reported a Q3 net profit of Rs 1,900 crore compared to Rs 1,604 crore in the year-ago period, an uptick of 18.5%.

Metal stocks are trading mixed against the backdrop of sustained decline in global commodity prices. Coal India is the top Sensex gainer, up nearly 3%. Sesa Sterlite has gained over 2% while Tata Steel is trading flat with negative bias and Hindalco is trading down by 0.6%.

From the capital good space, BHEL has gained by almost 2%. The company has bagged a contract from the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) for setting up a Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP), valued at Rs 1,202 crore on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis.

On the losing side, Bharti Airtel has declined over 2%. The company has clarified that it has not received any order demanding Rs. 436 crore from Department of Telecom.

GAIL has slipped by almost 1%. A major fire broke out at GAIL's natural gas pipeline in South Delhi's Satyaniketan area after it was perforated by civic construction contractors but there were no casualties reported.

Other notable losers are Hero Moto, SBI, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki.