Sensex ends up 71 pts

The Sensex ends (provisional) at 18,484 - up 71 points. Nifty ends up 16 points at 5,542.
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(Updated at 1433 hrs)

Markets continued to move sideways, after recovering from the lows of the day. The Sensex touched a high of18,527 in morning trades on the back of strong FII investmenets. However, weakness in oil & gas and FMCG stocks, dragged the index down 204 points from the high to an intra-day low of 18,323. Thereafter the Sensex recovered and was trading at 18,456 - up 43 points.

Markets are likely to be choppy ahead of the derivatives expiry on Thursday when traders would be rolling over their positions.

According to recent data, FIIs have bought shares worth Rs 1,505.50 crore since June 23.

Global markets were also traing in the positive zone. The Nikkei gained 0.7% at 9,649. Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were flat at 22,062 and 2,759, respectively.

BSE oil & gas index dropped 0.5% to 9,119. IT and realty stocks also declined. Gail India was the biggest loser among oil & gas stocks - down 2%. Among other stocks on the losing side were OMCs (HPCL, BPCL and IOC) and Reliance.

RIL's advance tax payment reportedly jumped 38.46% to Rs 900 crore in Q1 June 2011 over Q1 June 2010. Analysts expect higher profit for the period under review.

However, metal stocks rose on bargain hunting. Hindalco surged 4% to Rs 180. Welcorp gained 3.7% at Rs 167. Jindal Saw, Sterlite and NMDC added around 1% each.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was flat after reports came out suggesting the firm's board will clear the prospectus for the company's upcoming follow-on public offer (FPO) at a meeting today. The government, which holds 74% of ONGC, plans to sell 5% of its stake to raise funds.

BSE auto and bankex gained 0.5% each in late-noon trades.

Cairn India fell 1.2% at Rs 306 after UK-listed India-focused miner Vedanta Resources and Cairn Energy on Monday announced that they had tweaked the terms of the deal for Vedanta's acquisition of stake in Cairn India from Cairn Energy that has resulted in a lower deal price.

Markets will also look towards the Quarter 1 results for direction. HDFC would kick start the result season on July 8, 2011.