Volatile Nifty holds 5700; L&T, Tata Power, UltraTech up 2%

The BSE Sensex managed to hold the 100 points gains amid volatility since early trade while the Nifty stayed above the 5700 level despite somewhat profit booking. Private banking, FMCG, pharma, cement, metals and auto stocks remained on buyers' radar. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and State Bank of India came off day's high.

The 30-share BSE benchmark rose 130 points to 18,838.82 and the 50-share NSE benchmark went up 38.35 points to 5,714.35. The broader markets too were in line with benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.8 percent each.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro topped the buying list with 2.4 percent gains.

Private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC moved up over 1 percent while their rival State Bank of India trimmed gains to 0.5 percent from 1 percent.

Private power producer Tata Power and cement maker UltraTech Cement rallied over 2 percent.

Healthcare stocks continued uptrend - Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma and Cipla were up 1.6-2 percent.

Cigarette major ITC, housing finance company HDFC and software services exporter Infosys rose over 0.6 percent.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and state-run power producer NTPC fell over 1 percent. Power equipment maker BHEL and two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto declined 0.9 percent each.