Choppy Nifty trades higher; ONGC, TCS, ICICI Bank decline

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty remained higher with marginal gains amid volatility since early trade due to buying interest in Reliance Industries and Infosys. Tata Motors and SBI too played supportive role, but the fall in Bharti, ONGC, TCS, L&T, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank capped the upside.

The BSE benchmark went up 36 points to 17,637.84 and the NSE benchmark moved up 14 points to 5,350.90.

Saurabh Mukherjea of Ambit Capital expects high liquidity to continue supporting markets. Foreign institutional investors bought nearly Rs 5,000 crore worth of shares in India equity markets since July 27.

The market is now hoping that the government will kick start the process of reforms in the upcoming monsoon session. However, he said, "We don’t expect any significant reforms in the near-term."

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained nearly 1%. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever and software services exporter Infosys rose over 1%.

Commercial vehicle major Tata Motors climbed higher for the third consecutive session today with gains of 1.6%. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 1.8% ahead of first quarter numbers today.

Country's largest lender State Bank of India went up 0.7% while its rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank declined 0.24% each.

Metals stocks extended gains; Jindal Steel, Hindalco Industries and Sterlite Industries rallied 2-2.5%.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel remained under pressure with 3% losses after lower than expected Q1 net profit and operating profit.

State-owned oil & gas producer ONGC fell 1.5% and top software services exporter TCS lost 0.9%. GAIL tanked over 2%.

Indiabulls Financial Services, Indiabulls Power, Indiabulls Real Estate and Indiabulls Securities were down 1-4% after foreign research firm Veritas advised selling all Indiabulls group stocks. But, Indiabulls Wholesale Services gained 3% and Indiabulls Infrastructure and Power rallied 5%.
 
Alembic Pharma rose over 1% as the company is in product development and license agreement with Accu-Break (A US-based pharma company).

Strides Arcolab surged more than 4% after the company received US FDA approval for Oxaliplatin Injection that will be launched through Pfizer.

The broader markets gained 0.3% each as about 1268 shares advanced as against 1073 shares declined on the BSE.