Sensex gives up early gains, up 32 pts in choppy trade

In a volatile trade, the benchmark BSE Sensex today recovered part of its overnight losses and was trading higher by 32 points at 27,238.01 in late morning deals following a slowdown in selling by foreign funds amid short-covering.
The BSE 30-share barometer resumed better and immediately touched a high of 27,379.57, up 173.48 points, or 0.64 per cent.
However, it met with strong resistance and fell to a low of 27,159.76, before recovering 31.95 points, or 0.12 pct, to quote at 27,238.01 at 1045 hours.
Yesterday, it ended lower by 45.04 points, or 0.17 per cent.
Similarly, the broader 50-issue CNX Nifty gyrated in a range of 8,279.20 and 8,212.20 before trading at 8,241.90 at 1045 hours, a rise of 17.70 points, or 0.22 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with a downward bias despite a strong closing on the Wall Street yesterday as investors lapped up further weakness in the dollar and calmer bond markets. Key indices from Hong Kong and Japan were up while those from China, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were trading lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.06 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.39 per cent yesterday. The S&P 500 index logged its new closing peak.
Back home, shares from consumer durables, auto, FMCG, power, banking, IT and tech attracted good buying support while shares from metal segment suffered a setback on profit-booking.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 73.75 crore yesterday, according to provisional data.
Mid-cap and small-cap shares continued to catch retail investors' attention as their indices outperformed the Sensex.