Sensex trades flat; mid-cap, small-cap stocks shine

Frontline stocks remained flat today but some buying activity was seen in selective midcap and smallcap stocks.

Frontline indices Sensex and Nifty were slightly higher. Sensex was up 42 points at 21,075 while Nifty rose 15 points at 6,283.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices were up 0.8 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs 407 crore worth of Indian shares on Tuesday, marking a seventh consecutive session of purchases, exchange data showed.

Deven Choksey, MD of KR Choksey Shares & Securities, said he remains positive on the January series.

"The tapering part has been understood. The currency markets are not likely to seem much volatility. The government's has committed to kick-start several large projects."

Mr Choksey expects cyclicals to could attract more investor interest going forward. "Markets are likely to remain in a range of 6050-6100 on the lower side and 6350-6400 on the higher side with selective upside in individual stocks."

All the sectoral indices on the BSE remained in the positive territory. Among the Nifty shares, BPCL was up over 3 per cent to be the highest gainer. Shares of state-run oil marketing companies gain after a media report said the petroleum ministry was planning to propose a hike of Rs 5 in diesel prices.

Among the other gainers, ONGC and HPCL rose nearly 2.3 per cent each.

Tokyo's Nikkei share average climbed to a more than six-year high on Thursday, driven by buying from retail investors as tax-free investment accounts aimed at driving Japanese savings into stocks kicked off.

The Nikkei ended 1 per cent higher at 16,174.44, its highest since November 2007, while the broader Topix index was up 1.7 per cent at 1,279.34. (With Reuters inputs)