Volatile Nifty holds 5100; midcaps, smallcaps outperform

The 50-share NSE Nifty continued to hold the 5100 level amid choppy trade while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. PSU oil & gas, metals, capital goods and power stocks were supporting the market whereas the fall in Infosys, ITC, Bharti, Reliance and TCS has limited the upside.

The BSE benchmark was up 16.75 points at 16,876.55 and the NSE benchmark rose 7 points to 5,111.10. The Indian rupee too was hovering around 55.98 to the US dollar.

Top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors rallied 2% and country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Motocorp gained 1.35%. However, Maruti and Bajaj Auto fell 0.5%.

Private sector lender ICICI Bank gained 0.8% while its rival HDFC Bank went down 0.4%. Among FMCG majors, HUL was up 0.9% whereas ITC declined 0.5% on profit booking.

State-owned oil & gas producer ONGC and gas transportation service provider GAIL moved up 1% and 0.65%, respectively.

Capital goods majors Larsen & Toubro and BHEL gained 0.4% and 1.56% respectively after Mint reported that PMO called meeting on duty of power equipment today.

However, country's largest software services exporters TCS and Infosys slipped 0.7% each. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel was down 0.7% too.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed 0.5% each. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the National Stock Exchange.

In the second line shares, Educomp Solutions shot up 7.5% as company tied up for USD 155 million to pay off FCCBs worth USD 78.5 million on due date.

Sintex Industries, Tata Coffee, AstraZeneca and Shree Global were up 2.5-5% whereas Himadri Chemical, Allcargo (on profit booking), Alstom T&D, South Indian Bank and Jubilant Life dropped 1.5-6.5%.

Among smallcap stocks, Kalyani Steels, J Kumar Infra, Surana Industries, Everonn Education and AP Paper Mills rallied 5-8%.

Saint-Gobain (on failure to execute delisting offer) and Henkel India were locked at 5% lower circuit each.

Nirlon, Savita Oil Tech and Panacea Biotec were down around 3%.