Mumbai, May 20 (Inditop) A key index of the Indian equities markets remained range-bound Wednesday morning after opening weak, as buying interest waned.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which had opened lower at 14,230.73 points, was trading in a tightly-bound range, moving intermittently between red and green terrains.
About an hour into trade, it was at 14,326.81 points, 24.78 points or 0.17 percent higher than its last closing figure Tuesday.
The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) followed a similar trajectory, and was ruling in the green around the same time, at 4,334.75 points, 0.38 percent higher than its last close.
However, broader market indices were doing better, with the BSE midcap index gaining 4.64 percent, while the banking and technology scrips saw some selling.
Of the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE, the indices for consumer durables and metal stocks gained the most, while IT and FMCG stocks came under selling pressure.
The market breadth was positive with a lot of upward movement seen in relatively smaller companies. At the time, 1,804 stocks had advanced, 342 declined and 63 remained unchanged.
Among gainers at this time on the Sensex were Jaiprakash Associates, up 6.32 percent at Rs.175; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 6.16 percent at Rs.666; Reliance Infra, up 5.76 percent at Rs.1,120.50; and Hindalco, up 5.22 percent at Rs.81.60.
Among the losers were BHEL, down 5.77 percent at Rs.2,040; DLF, down 4.94 percent at Rs.365.70; Bharti Airtel, down 4.88 percent at Rs.870; and Reliance Communications, down 4.72 percent at Rs.300.80.
Other Asian markets were trading mixed, with Tokyo markets ending trade on a high with its key index, the Nikkei, 55.74 points in the green at 9,346.03 points.
On the other hand, the Hang Seng, the primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was 73.49 points down at 17,470.54 points.
In the US, both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index fell Tuesday, as banking stocks took a hit on disappointing housing data.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 29.23 points or 0.34 percent to 8,474.85 points, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index dipped 1.58 points or 0.17 percent to 908.13 points.
The Nasdaq, an index of most technology companies, however gained anticipating positive results from IT giant Hewlett Packard.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.18 points or 0.13 percent, to 1,734.54 points.
