Sensex trades up 40 points; Sterlite, HDFC, M&M rise

Indian equities aretrading in a range bound manner in post noon trade on Thursday ahead of F&O expiry. Buying interest was seen in index heavyweights - HDFC, ITC and RIL which contributed rise. However realty, consumer durables and healthcare stocks traded lower.

At 1.03 pm, the Sensex was trading up 39.78 points or 0.21% at 18,749.80 with 16 components gaining. Meanwhile, the Nifty was trading higher by 11.85 points or 0.21% at 5,703.25 with 24 components gaining.

The 30-share benchmark index, BSE Sensex opened flat with a rise of 2.39 points or 0.01% at 18,712.41, while the broad based NSE Nifty started with a fall of 2.60 points or 0.05%, at 5,688.80.

Sensex Movers

Housing Development Finance Corporation contributed rise of 21.67 points in the Sensex. It was followed by I T C (11.42 points), Reliance Industries (10.42 points), Mahindra & Mahindra (7.41 points) and Tata Consultancy Services (5.8 points).

However, Hindustan Unilever contributed fall of 7.45 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Infosys (6.64 points), State Bank Of India (6.18 points), Tata Motors (4.01 points) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (3.31 points).

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Sterlite Industries (India) (1.88%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (1.61%), Mahindra & Mahindra (1.59%), Hero Motocorp (1.45%), Bajaj Auto (0.80%), and NTPC (0.65%).

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki India (1.31%), Jindal Steel & Power (1.24%), Dr Reddy"S Laboratories (1.22%), Hindustan Unilever (1.02%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.94%), and State Bank Of India (0.87%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.

Mid-cap Space

The BSE Midcap index was at 6634.94 down by 14.15 points or by 0.21%. The major losers were A I A Engineering (1.6%), Alstom India (1.48%), Aban Offshore (1%), CORE Education and Technologies (0.1%) and A B G Shipyard (0.05%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Realty index was at 1,802.68, down by 38.94 points or by 2.11%. The major losers were D B Realty (4.98%), Indiabulls Real Estate (3.59%), D L F (1.44%), Anant Raj Industries (1.19%) and Godrej Properties (0.08%).

The Consumer Durables index was at 7,212.42, down by 16.08 points or by 0.22%. The major losers were Bajaj Electricals (3.28%), C.Mahendra Exports (3.16%), Rajesh Exports (2.64%), T T K Prestige (1.15%) and V I P Industries (1.13%).

On the other hand, the Oil & Gas index was at 8,495.42, up by 38.98 points or by 0.46%. The major gainers were Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.62%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (0.34%), Indian Oil Corporation (0.33%), G A I L (India) (0.23%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (0.18%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 1,223 advances against 1,406 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

Adani Enterprises topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 1,831.25 million. It was followed by Standard Chartered PLC (Rs. 1,174.87 million), Infosys (Rs. 434.08 million) and United Spirits (Rs. 413.96 million).

The volume chart was led by Cals Refineries with trades of over 22.53 million shares. It was followed by Standard Chartered PLC (11.45 million), Adani Enterprises (8.33 million) and Kingfisher Airlines (7.85 million).