Nifty settle below 9,600 mark, up 85 pts

The benchmark Nifty today settled a tad below the psychologically 9,600-mark but still logged its closing high of 9,595.10 by rising 85 points on intense buying mainly in metal, energy, FMCG and infra sectors.
However, pharma stocks continued to remain weak on the back of poor results as well as poor sectoral outlook given the pricing pressure in the US.
In overseas markets, Asian equities ended on a mixed note while most European stocks were trading lower as a slump in crude prices spoilt global risk appetite.
The NSE 50-share Nifty index opened lower at 9,507.75 and hovered between 9,604.90 and 9,495.40 before finishing at 9,595.10, a rise of 85.35 points, or 0.90 per cent.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 109.50 points.
Sector-wise, metal rose 3.38 per cent, energy 1.98 per cent, FMCG bank 1.80 per cent, infra (1.35 per cent), private bank (1.50 per cent), auto 1.17 per cent, bank 0.74 per cent, finance service 0.76 per cent and realty 0.57 per cent.

However, pharma continued its downtrend to fell by another 1.51 per cent and PSU bank 0.55 per cent.
In broader market, midcaps continued their positive momentum when they returned to action after a corrective phase, the mid-cap and small-cap indices rose by 1.39 per cent and 1.75 per cent, respectively.

Major index gainers were Tata Steel (5.58 per cent), Vedl (4.32 per cent), Hindalco (4.12 per cent), Indiabulls Housing Finance (3.87 per cent), BPCL (3.14 per cent), Reliance (2.81 per cent) and Adaniport (2.13 per cent).
Sunpharma fell by 4.04 per cent, while other notable lossers were IOC (2.94 per cent), Cipla (3.00 per cent), Lupin (2.43 per cent), TCS (1.77 per cent) and Bank of Baroda (1.18 per cent) and Infratel (1.57 per cent).
A total of 1,251 scrips advanced and 426 declined, while 74 remained unchanged.
Total securities that hit their price bands were 152.
Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 26,556.86 crore, from Rs 35,128.07 crore yesterday.

A total of 13,900.27 lakh share changed hands in 95,68,425 trades.
The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,24,04,113.30 crore.