Sensex ends near day's low...Nifty holds 6150

Indian equity markets kicked off the first trading session of the year on a bright note, with the NSE Nifty ending above the 6150 levels. However, the key indices couldn't quite manage to pull-off a perfect start to the New Year, as profit booking set in after last week's rally.



Today's gains were led by Metals, Consumer Durables, Realty and Banking stocks. On the other hand, Auto stocks witnessed some profit booking after a higher start even as most companies came out with strong December volumes. IT and Oil & Gas shares were also relatively subdued today. Capital Goods, Pharma and FMCG space saw select action.

The Small-Cap shares were by far the top winners today, eclipsing the gains in the Mid-Cap as well as the Large-Cap counters.

"The beginning to the year 2011 was certainly good, although one would have liked to see the main indices sustaining early morning's gains. The fact that they ended near the day's lows is a little discomforting. One has to wait for a few more days to see how the trend unfolds, especially in the fund flows from overseas investors," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex advanced 52 points to close at 20,561 and the NSE Nifty gained 23 points to close at 6,158.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Metal index was the top gainer the index gained 2%, followed by BSE Consumer Durables index was up 1.5% and the BSE PSU index gained 0.6%.

The broader indices also ended in green, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1% and BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.8%.

The European indices were trading in the green, the DAX in Germany was up 1.5%, and the CAC 40 index in France was up 2.1%.

Tata Steel, Sterlite, Reliance Infra, JP Associate, RCOM, HDFC Bank, M&M, DLF, BHEL, Jindal Steel, Cipla, Maruti Suzuki and SBI were among the leaders in the sensex and the Nifty.

Bajaj Auto, Wipro, NTPC, TCS, RIL, ONGC, ICICI Bank and ITC were among the laggards in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Nagarjuna Const, Godrej Ind, Bosch, JP Hydro and MTNL. On the other hand, losers included United Phos, REC, Union Bank and Cadila Healthcare.