Sensex up 41 pts; gains for 3rd day in volatile trade

Extending its gains for the third straight day, the BSE barometer Sensex today rose by 41 points in a volatile trade to settle at fresh one-month high on buying in IT, capital goods and FMCG stocks.
The benchmark index touched a high of 20,912.54 and a low of 20,777.73 during the day as market participants were adjusting their pending positions before the monthly settlement in derivatives segment tomorrow.
The 30-share index added 41.03 points, or 0.20 per cent, to close at 20,852.47, a level last seen on January 24. The index has gained 275 points in the previous last two sessions.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 13.95 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 6,200.05.
Brokers said the market remained volatile ahead of monthly settlement in the derivatives sector and some buying fundamentally strong stocks.
Among 30 index stocks, 14 gained and 15 declined, while ONGC held unchanged.

Wipro was the biggest gainer among Sensex scrips with gains of 2.95 per cent. Infosys and TCS posted gains up to 1 per cent.
Bajaj Auto (2.14 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (0.61 per cent) and ITC (0.64 per cent) were among lead gainers that helped the index close in the green.

However, losses in Coal India (2.26 per cent), NTPC (1.07 per cent) and Tata Steel (2.25 per cent) restricted the Sensex movement.
The capital goods sector index gained the most by rising 2.96 per cent to 5,961.62, followed by IT index by 0.90 per cent to 9,618.06. The auto index rose by 0.59 per cent to 12,322.14.