Sensex edges up; metals, realty outperform

03.40 p.m. Markets close with modest gains. Sensex up 14 points, ends at 21,753.75. Nifty closes below 6,500. Axis Bank surged 2.7 per cent on speculation that its weightage in FTSE indices is due to increase when the index provider rejigs the composition of its benchmarks after the close of markets on Friday. By contrast, stocks whose weightage in FTSE indices are expected to fall are being hit: Reliance Industries declined 2.2 per cent, while Oil and Natural Gas Corporation fell 3 per cent. (Read the story)

03.30 p.m. Sensex ends 17 points higher at 21,757. Nifty edged up 10 points to close at 6,493 (provisional).

03.15 p.m. Markets have been lacklustre today. The Sensex opened 100 points higher, but has been listless since then, while the Nifty has moved in a 40-point range and is trading below the key 6,500 levels.

2.30 p.m Strong buying in metal and realty stocks takes Nifty & Sensex higher. Nifty currently trading up by 23 points and Sensex up by 60 points.

2.00 p.m. Realty stocks, which have been falling for last three days, are seeing buying interest today. CNX Realty index is up 2.41 per cent now at day's high. HDIL is the top gainer in the index with 4.52 per cent gain.

1.20 p.m. Axis bank currently trades up 2.5 per cent. Government reportedly raised more than $900 million from the OFS (Read full story)

12.50 p.m. Axis bank which opened lower today due to government's Rs. 5700 crore sale offer (Read full story) is now trading up by 1.60 per cent at Rs. 1379.

12.32 p.m. BSE Metals index trading at its day high with a gain of 2.53 per cent. JSW Steel currently trading up 3.86 per cent at Rs 985 and Tata Steel trading up 3.43 per cent at Rs. 362 are the major gainers in the index.

12.10 p.m. Broader indices Sensex and Nifty are trading range bound. CNX IT index has bounced back and is trading at its day high. Wipro is currently the top gainer in CNX IT and Nifty as well. It is trading at a gain of 4.28 per cent at Rs. 576. And Infosys has turned green.

11.20 a.m. Markets trading in a range. Sensex up 47 points, Nifty up 18 points. Banking stocks have gained more strength, but metal stocks are the real outperformers today. Tata Steel up 2.1 per cent, and Hindalco Industries up 2.6 per cent. (Here's why Tata Steel shares have been gaining)

10.30 a.m. Top brokerage calls today,

1) Credit Suisse initiates coverage on Apollo Hospital with outperform. Shares up 1 per cent. (Read)
2) Kotak maintains sell on Asian Paints. Shares down over 1 per cent. (Read)
3) Morgan Stanley initiates overweight on Ipca Lab.: Stock up 4 per cent to Rs 861.30.
4) Religare maintains buy on Sun Pharma. Shares down 0.9 per cent. (Read)

10.10 a.m. Rupee made a day high of 61 per dollar. Rupee opened higher today at 61.08 against Thursday's close of 61.34. FIIs continue to pump in money into Indian equities helping support the rupee.

10.00 a.m. Markets are significantly off the day's high primarily because Infosys has turned lower after a positive start. Infosys has the second largest weightage among Nifty stocks. The Sensex is up 30 points, while the Nifty is up 14 points, but below the key 6,500 levels. (Track markets)

09.40 a.m. Infosys shares down after rising as much as 1 per cent in morning trade. Sarvendra Srivastava says if Infosys shares fall by Rs 100, another 6-7 per cent decline cannot be ruled out. Technical analyst Rajat Bose says Infosys has a strong support at Rs 3,247-3,230, but if these levels are broken, the stock can fall by Rs 200. (Read the full story here)

09.15 a.m. The BSE Sensex jumped over 100 points, while the Nifty advanced around 40 points. The Nifty traded above the key 6,500 levels. The Bank Nifty advanced 0.5 per cent. PSU lenders Bank of Baroda and SBI were among the top Nifty gainers. Among stocks driven by news, 1) Axis Bank fell over 2 per cent. The government is offloading 9 per cent stake in the private lender. 2) Infosys shares edged up and traded 0.7 per cent higher.

09.10 a.m. Sarvendra Srivastava says the Nifty is stuck around 6,500, which is not a good sign for bulls. 6,527 is the number to watch on a closing basis today. Maintain targets at 6,700-6,800 with reversals pegged at 6,384.

Trading tips for the day include,
 
1) Polaris: Buy with a target of 220 and a stop loss of 194.8.
2) Akzo Nobel India: Buy with a target of 880 and a stop loss of 804.4.
3) TV18: Buy with a target of 28 and a stop loss of 23.4.

08.45: Infosys will be in focus today after its India business head Chandrashekar Kakal became the ninth high-ranking executive to quit the company. (Read the full story here)

The government is selling 4.2 crore shares, or 9 per cent stake in Axis Bank. Bids can be placed from price ranging between Rs 1,290-1,357.35. At the lower end, the bid price represents a 5 per cent discount from Thursday's closing price of Rs 1,357.35 on the National Stock Exchange. The trade will be executed today. (Read more)

08.40 a.m. Market outlook: Market analyst Sanjeev Bhasin says expect weekly close above 6,500 on the Nifty today with cyclicals leading the rally. Long banks, metals, capital goods & short on IT and oil marketing companies should be the trade for today. (Read Sanjeev's trading calls here)

8.35 a.m. FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) continued their buying spree in cash market. On Thursday, FIIs bought stocks worth Rs 722 crore.

8.30 a.m. Nifty future trading on Singapore exchange is trading up by 23 points, 0.38 per cent.

8.20 a.m. Cues from Asian markets are mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is trading marginally higher, but Japan's Nikkei benchmark traded 1.65 per cent lower. South Korea's Kospi index traded up 0.60 per cent.

8.15 a.m. Positive global cues may help a gap up opening in Indian markets markets today. Encouraging signs from US that the economy is emerging from its winter slumber helped boost stocks in US, a day after the market dipped on concerns that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates sooner than investors had anticipated. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.24 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 1,872.01. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 108.88 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 16,331.05. (Read the full story here)

8:00 a.m. Indian stock markets closed lower on Thursday on Federal Reserve's commentary that interest rates in the US could increase earlier than expected. A rise in rates in the US could make bond yields attractive and foreign institutional investors might be tempted to cut their positions across all emerging markets. This could lead to redemption in countries like India and will pressure stocks, rupee and bonds. Banking stocks fell on Thursday with ICICI bank ending down 0.76 per cent. (Read more)