Markets pared in the morning trades as weakness in FMCG, banks and metal weighed on the benchmark indices. At 10.30 am, the Sensex was up eight points at 19,914 and the Nifty was up five points at 6,029.
Meanwhile, the broader markets strengthened with the midcap index advancing 0.4% and the smallcap index added 0.3%, both outperforming the Sensex which was flat with a positive bias.
Among the sectoral indices, metal and banks joined FMCG in the red. The top sectoral gainers in the morning trades were Realty, auto and capital Goods indices, up 0.5-1%
The top gainers among the Sensex stocks are TCS, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and L&T up 0.8-2%.Metal, banks and FMCG
Among the draggers are Sterlite, Hindustan Unilever, Jindal Steel and Hero MotoCorp down 1% each.
In individual stocks, Shalimar Paints soared 17% to Rs 131 after reporting 24% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 4.69 crore in December 2012 (Q3) quarter against Rs 3.77 crore in previous year quarter. The paint maker had a profit of Rs 2.78 crore in September 2012 quarter.
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(Updated at 9:22 hrs)
Markets started on a strong note touching the 20,000 mark on the back of buying in software makers after better-than-expected results by TCS yesterday. However, the benchmark index pared gains quickly on the back of selling coming in names like ITC, ICICI Bank and Infosys.
At 9:21 hrs, the Sensex was up 37 points at 19,943. It touched an intra-day high level of 20007.09, BSE data shows. The 50-share Nifty added six points at around 6,031.
The broader markets, too, opened firm with the midcap index up 0.2% outperforming the smallcap and the Sensex which started off 0.1% higher.
Overnight in US markets, Wall Street closed flat on Monday as shares of Apple were hit by demand concerns, while investors faced a busy week for earnings in what is expected to be a lackluster quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.13% at 13,488. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.09%, to 1,471. The Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 0.26% at 3,117.
In Asia, markets were capped on earnings and US fiscal concerns. However, some of the exceptions were Japan's Nikkei share average which climbed 1.3% to 10,938, a 32-month high on Tuesday, driving the benchmark further into "overbought" territory, as persistent weakness in the yen boosts demand for exporters' shares.
Shanghai Composite and KLSE Composite up 0.1% were the only other markets in green.
Back home, among the sectoral indices, apart from FMCG index down 0.5%, all the other indices started in the green. The ones leading the gains in the opening trades were IT, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Auto, Realty and Metal indices adding 0.2-0.6%.
Selling in frontline FMCG stocks like ITC and Hindustan Unilever weighed on the FMCG index.
The other notable names in the red were Gail India, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Coal India, SUN Pharma, Sterlite and Dr Reddys Lab down 0.2-0.8%.
On the other hand, the top gainer was TCS which gained nearly 3% after reporting a better-than-expected 1% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,552 crore for the third quarter ended December 2012 (Q3). On year-on-year basis (yoy), net profit grew by 23%.
The others in the green were Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL, Tata Power, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Cipla and Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra up 0.3-1%
In other stocks, SpiceJet surged 7% to Rs 47 in early morning deals on back of heavy volumes on reports that Qatar Airways may buy stake in the low-cost carrier.
The market breadth was positive. 872 stocks advanced while 512 stocks declined on the BSE.
