Select buying boosts market; NSE Nifty gains 21 points

Trading began on a strong note following buoyancy in Asian markets as well as firm buying in bank, metal, capital goods and technology counters.

Globally sentiment turned positive as most financial markets bounced back and showed some stability after recent fall, boosted by encouraging US macro data, though trading remained cautious ahead of EU summit later this week.

The domestic market rallied further on sustain buying support amid short-covering ahead of the F&O expiry tomorrow.

However, the key index gave up most of its early gains in afternoon trade on the back of profit taking, mainly in oil & energy and auto stocks, dragging the NSE benchmark to day's lowest point for a brief period.

The bourses rallied towards the final hour of trade on some bargain hunting as well as firm European support to conclude the session on a positive note for the second day.

FMCG, technology, bank and metal counters attracted good buying interest.

The 50-share Nifty hovered between a high of 5,160.10 and a low of 5,129.25 before closing at 5,141.90, a net gain of 21.10 points, or 0.41 per cent, over the last close.

Sesa Goa, IDFC, Tata Steel, Tata Power, HCL Tech, RInfra, Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, Bank of Baroda and Infosys were the top gainers from Nifty pack. However, Tata Motors, Cairn, Kotak, ACC, JP Associates, Bharti, Wipro, ONGC, Axis Bank and Ambuja Cement topped the losers' list.

The turnover in cash segment rose to Rs 8,002.48 crore against Rs 7,616 crore yesterday. In all, 5,359.49 lakh shares changed hands in 44,04,883 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 58,98,315 crore.