Nifty holds on to 6,300-mark in thin trade; metals shine

The benchmark CNX Nifty index held on to the crucial 6,300-level in a range-bound trade with positive bias at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Stock-specific action saw the 50-share index rising by 10 points. Rate sensitive banking and auto stocks rose on hopes of rate cut at the RBI monetary policy meet next week.
The metal scrips gained after the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to sell the Government's remaining stake in Hindustan Zinc. Tata Steel shot up 2.42 per cent, while Sesa Sterlite was up 1.58 per cent. Shares from mid and small-cap companies also ended in the green.

Yesterday's star performers IT and FMCG counters witnessed profit booking, while energy and pharma shares extended their losses.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 384.89 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The market opened higher on firm Asian cues and extended gains to hit fresh intra-day high in morning trade. A bout of profit booking led the key index to trade lower for a brief moment during afternoon but it soon regained momentum after higher opening in Europe and ended with moderate gains.

The Nifty hovered between a high of 6,330.30 and a low of 6,297.90 before closing at 6,313.80, up 9.85 points, or 0.16 per cent, over the previous close.

Key gainers were ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, JP Associates, Axis Bank, PNB, Bank of Baroda, L&T and Ranbaxy. Main losers were, Kotak Bank, BHEL, Coal India, TCS, Asian Paints, GAIL, SunPharma, BPCL, UltraTech and Bharti Airtel.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 10,564.13 crore from Rs 10,012.18 crore yesterday. A total of 5,297.43 lakh shares changed hands in 49,36,766 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 68,17,257 crore.