Sensex, Nifty Edge Higher Ahead Of Economic Survey

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Indexes edged marginally higher ahead of presentation of the Economic Survey later in the day. The upside was capped in morning trading as gains in Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Axis Bank, Infosys, HDFC Bank and Larsen & Toubro was offset by losses in Tata Steel, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Bajaj Auto. The Sensex rose as much as 87 points while the Nifty 50 Index touched high of 11,942.

As of 9:20 am, the Sensex traded 0.16 per cent or 66 points higher at 39,905 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index rose 0.17 per cent or 20 points to 11,937.

Indiabulls Housing Finance was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 1.95 per cent to Rs 704.45. ONGC, Eicher Motors, UPL, Dr Reddy's Labs, Zee Entertainment, Axis Bank, Coal India and Tata Steel were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Titan, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, Power Grid and Indian Oil were among the laggards.

Fourteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Bankex Index's 0.6 per cent gain. Realty, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Industrials and Finance sector gauges also rose between 0.3 and 0.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, S&P BSE Metal Index was top loser, down 0.4 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing a mild buying interest as the S&P BSE MidCap Index rose 0.2 per cent while S&P BSE SmallCap Index climbed 0.3 per cent.

The overall market breadth was positive as 797 shares were trading higher while 381 were trading lower on the BSE.