Sensex erases some initial gains; up 55 pts in morning trade

Trimming some of its initial gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex today was trading higher by 55 points in morning trade on buying in realty, capital goods, refinery, power and healthcare sectors despite selling in banking and auto counters.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed higher at 24,300.99 points and firmed up further to 24,353.59 on strong buying in view of overnight rise in US market.
However, it declined afterwards to 24,167.94 due to weakness in Asian market amidst persistent capital outflows before quoting at 24,288.77 points at 1000 hours.
It still showed a gain of 54.62 points or 0.23 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 12.60 points or 0.17 per cent to 7,248.25 at 1000 hours.
Major gainers were NTPC (2.00 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.89 per cent), BHEL (1.56 per cent), HUL (1.56 per cent), Dr Reddy's Lab (1.53 per cent), Larsen (1.46 per cent) and Cipla (1.43 per cent).

However, Tata Motors dropped by 1.78 per cent followed by Axis Bank 1.66 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.40 per cent and TCS 1.01 per cent.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 522.90 crores yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Asian stocks edged lower in choppy trade in the early trade.
Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were off 0.09 to 0.90 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite was flat. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.28 per cent.
US stocks rose for the fifth time in six days yesterday, driving the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to a record, after Tyson Foods Inc offered to buy Hillshire Brands (HSH) Co and investors speculated the economy is improving following a contraction in the first quarter.