Nifty gains in choppy trade, up 7 points

The benchmark Nifty pared initial smart surge to trade in range amid choppiness as buying in key heavy-weights in IT, pharma and financials helped the index to garner 6.70 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Bourses trading positive in the midst of volatility following overnight developments led the index to climb 8,160.90 level. It came with resistance at higher levels during afternoon as the broader market saw profit-booking and went into red couple of times.
Infra, energy, FMCG, PSU banks, auto, metal, realty and shares of mid-cap and small-cap companies witnessed selling pressure.
However, buying was witnessed in key heavyweights of IT sector after the key rating agency Moody's Investors Service yesterday upgraded half a dozen Tata Group firms.

Thus, TCS scored 2.72 per cent gain, Zee Ltd 2.27 per cent, HCL Tech 2.24 per cent, Grasim 2.21 per cent and TechM 2.15 per cent.
On the other side, Jindal Steel lost 4.68 per cent, L&T by 2.27 per cent, ONGC 2.39 per cent, SBIN 2.00 per cent and DLF 1.91 per cent.

The 50-share Nifty opened higher at 8,129.40 and rose to a high of 8,160.90 and then dropped to a low of 8,105.35 before closing at 8,121.45, showing a modest gain of 6.70 points, or 0.08 per cent, over its last close.
Asian stocks closed higher following yesterday's US stocks ending strong.

Other notable gainers include Lupin, Cipla, Asian Paints, Axis Bank and Maruti.
Turnover in the cash segment jumped to Rs 22,944.11 crore from Rs 17,780.85 crore yesterday. A total of 12,038.88 lakh shares changed hands in 92,38,364 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 93,75,671 crore.