Nifty holds 5050 led by tech, realty, metals; RIL, L&T dip

ALSO READ See Key Market Stats - Top Gainers/ Losers, Most Actives, Highs/Lows See how Global Markets are trading Indian ADRs Nifty BSE | NSE 31/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

At 10:57 hours IST, the Nifty was trading marginally higher amid choppiness, led by buying interest in technology, metal, realty, telecom, pharma and select infrastructure stocks. It was inching up towards the 5,100 mark while the Sensex held above the 17,000 level.

However, continued selling in Reliance Industries, L&T, ICICI Bank, SBI, Sterlite Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, HDFC and Ambuja Cements limited the gains to some extent.

The Sensex was up 40 points at 17,091 and the Nifty gained 15 points at 5,077. The broader indices rose nearly 1% each, as the market breadth was positive. About 1,806 shares advanced while 999 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 624 shares were unchanged.

Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech gained 1.6-2% in the technology space. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular went up 0.9-1.3%.

Infrastructure stocks like Reliance Power, BHEL, Tata Power, Jaiprakash Associates, Suzlon Energy, Power Grid, Siemens and ABB were gainers.

Realty stocks like DLF and Unitech were up 1-1.5%. SAIL, Jindal Steel and Tata Steel moved up 1.3-1.8% in the metal pack.

Cipla was up 2.5% and Ranbaxy Labs gained 1.8%.

In the midcap space, BOC India shot up 7.41%, as the company received 4 gas supply orders from photo-voltaic makers. HOEC, Redington, Pantaloon Retail and Jai Corp were up 4-7% while BF Utilities, Educomp Solutions, BGR Energy, Spice Communications and TV18 fell 1-2.6%.

In the smallcap space, Lok Housing, Hindustan Motors, Nagarjuna Agri, Electrosteel and Pratibha Industries went up 7-10% while Fem Care Pharma, Suashish Diamon, Varun Industries, Vipul and Phillips Carbon slipped 3-4%.

Continued on the next page...