Sensex, Nifty manage moderate gains

It was a day of modest gains for the Indian stock indices as the bulls managed to make a come back of sorts after two lackluster trading sessions. The Metal stocks were clearly the biggest winners in today's session after being battered in the recent past. Keeping them company in the upswing were the Realty and select Auto stocks.



"The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex did cross 5400 and 18,000 mark respectively during intra-day trades. However, they found it difficult to sustain above those psychological levels amid continued caution among traders and investors. They seem to be waiting on the sidelines and digesting all the quarterly results apart from the global news," says Amar Ambani, Vice President Research IIFL.

The BSE Sensex ended at 17,977, advancing 99 points while the Nifty added 27 points to shut shop at 5,395.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Metal index was top gainer; the index gained 3.1%, followed by BSE Realty index was up 1% and BSE Auto index was up 0.8%. Even the Mid-Cap index and the Small-cap index added 0.4% each.

On the other hand, the BSE Pharma index was the only loser, the index lost 0.3%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Crompton Greaves, REI Agro, PTC and Sintex Ind. On the other hand, losers included Renuka Sugars, Sun TV, Andhra Bank and Madras Cement.