Sensex fails to maintain initial gains, still up 12 points

The BSE benchmark Sensex failed to maintain initial gains due to fresh selling pressure in capital goods and metal sectors, but was still quoted up by 12 points to 20,205.57 on mild buying in IT and tech counters in late morning deals today.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed higher at 20,265.13 points and moved up further to a high of 20,313.02 on firm global cues, coupled with persistent capital inflows from foreign funds.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth net Rs 399.40 crore yesterday, as per the figures issued by stock exchanges.
However, it declined afterwards to 20,166.08 points before quoting at 20,205.57 at 1030 hours, still showing a gain of 12.22 points or 0.06 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share index Nifty also inched up by 1.55 points or 0.03 per cent to 6,002.65 at 1030 hours.
Major gainers were - Bharti Airtel 2.02 pct, Tata Motors 1.58 pct, Gail India 1.14 pct, Sun Pharma 0.97 pct and TCS 0.77 pct.

Stocks that declined were - BHEL 2.73 pct, followed by SSLT 1.75 pct, Hindalco 1.70 pct, Bajaj Auto 1.53 pct, HDFC 1.26 pct, Cipla 1.22 pct and Dr Reddy's Lab 1.15 pct.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose as telecommunication and materials companies led gains.
Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan firmed up by 0.25 to 0.85 per cent while indices in Japan and Singapore fell by 0.21 pct and 1.09 per cent.