Nifty hovers around 5,900, Auto shares in demand

Benchmark indices remain volatile in a narrow range with Sensex and Nifty oscillating between negative and positive zone.

The market will remain volatile in the near future as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from September to October series. The September F&O contracts will expire tomorrow.

By 10:20, the Sensex was higher by 11 points at 19,932 mark and the Nifty was flat at 5,893 levels.

In Asia, shares slipped and the dollar held steady against a basket of currencies in Asian trade on Wednesday, as concerns about a possible U.S. government shutdown and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's policy outlook left investors hesitant to take aggressive positions.

"It's negative to investor sentiment as a whole," said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, referring to the political wrangling in Washington.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped about 0.2%, while Japan's Nikkei stock average was down 0.4%.

Bach home, the weakness in rupee continued for the fourth straight day due to month-end dollar demand by importers.

At 9:30am, the rupee was trading at 62.80 compared with previous close of Rs 62.77 per dollar.

On the sectoral front, BSE Healthcare and Auto indices have surged by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Oil & Gas index has declined by nearly 0.5%.

Shares of automobiles companies are in demand on expectations of higher demand during the upcoming festive season. In the auto segment, Tata Motors and Hero Moto have gained by 2% each.

Power generation stocks are in focus as the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the methodology for auctioning coal blocks, enabling the government to allot coal mining licences through competitive bidding for the first time.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the production-linked payment on rupee per tonne basis, plus a basic upfront payment of 10% of the intrinsic value of the coal block. Tata Power and NTPC have gained between 1-2%.

Other notable gainers are BHEL, L&T, Sun Pharma, Cipla, ONGC and Wipro.

On the losing side, M&M, HDFC, RIL, ITC and TCS have declined by nearly 1% each.

Among other shares, Kingfisher Airlines, a Vijay Mallya led United Breweries Group company, is locked in upper circuit for second day in a row, up 10% at Rs 5.65 on reports that the group is in talks with a foreign investor for potential stake sale.

Financial Technologies (India) has tanked nearly 15% to Rs 142 in early morning trades on NSE after the company said that its statutory auditor Deloitte, Haskins & Sells has withdrawn its certificates about the genuineness of the company's results for 2012-13 which the firm had audited and cleared earlier.

Mindtree is trading higher by 3% at Rs 1,185, extending its nearly 6% rally in past two days after the foreign investor, FID Fund Mauritius purchase the company’s shares through open market.

The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 653 shares advancing and 481 shares declining.