Volatile Nifty ends above 5250; GAIL, JSPL top gainers

Indian equity benchmarks remained lacklustre for the second consecutive session on Tuesday due to lack of global and domestic cues. The 50-share NSE Nifty recovered quite nicely in the second half of trade, to claw back above the 5250 level amid volatility. The index rose 20.25 points to close at 5,274, supported by banks, metals, capital goods stocks and Reliance.

The stalemate in parliament over coal allocation scam continued for the 10th consecutive day today as opposition party BJP was stuck to its demand for resignation of Prime Minister. That resulted into lower participation of traders.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 56.47 points to 17,440.87 while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. The BSE Midcap Index was up 0.5% and Smallcap went up 0.4%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries led the major support since early trade, which gained 1.9%. Commercial vehicle major Tata Motors too was among gainers since the morning trade, rising 1.7%.

Country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank climbed 1% each. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever too moved up 1% each.

State-run gas transportation services provider GAIL and steel & power producer JSPL rallied 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro was up 0.8% and power equipment maker BHEL gained 1.13%.

India's largest software services exporter TCS rebounded with 0.3% gains while its rival Infosys fell 0.3%.

Housing finance company HDFC and drug producer Cipla dropped 1.5% each. Cigarette major ITC and state-run oil & gas producer ONGC declined 0.5%.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group: Reliance Communications rallied nearly 5% as Anil Ambani, in an annual general meeting, said would complete Reliance Infratel value unlocking strategy in 2013. The company received shareholders’ nod for share issue to QIBs.

Reliance Capital gained more than 3% as the board of directors would consider special dividend on September 10.

In the second line shares, HDIL, Educomp, Sintex, Aban Offshore and Opto Circuits jumped 5-7%. Ashok Leyland rose 2% on strong sales numbers in August.

Among media and entertainment stocks, Den Network, Zee Entertainment, Hathway Cable and Dish TV rallied 4-7%. S Kumars Nationwide tanked 5%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1516 to 1199 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Asian and European markets were down on worries over global economic growth, but the hopes of stimulus from central banks remained supportive. Investors awaited the conclusion of European Central Bank’s meeting that scheduled for Thursday.