Nifty choppy; RIL, HDFC, Bharti support

Indian equity benchmarks were choppy in trade at 13:36 hours, ahead of F&O expiry for the month of February tomorrow as well as budget on Monday. On one side, heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC and Bharti Airtel were quite supportive with 1.5-2.5% jump. L&T too gained more than half a percent.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), auto and metal companies' shares were witnessing buying interest as well. However, the upside was capped by selling in technology and realty companies' shares. SBI was the leading dragger on Nifty with 2.2% fall. ICICI Bank, NTPC, Ranbaxy Labs, Tata Power, IDFC, BHEL, Bajaj Auto and JSPL were other losers.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was trading at 5,472, up 3 points and the 30-share BSE Sensex gained just 8 points at 18,305.

Reliance Infrastructure was the top gainer with 13% rally and Reliance Capital jumped 5%. Reliance Power and Reliance Communications were up 1.5%.

In auto space, Tata Motors, M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Hero Honda gained 1-2.5%.

Ranbaxy Labs was the biggest loser on Nifty with 5% decline. Pharma major has reported a net loss of Rs 98 crore in fourth quarter of CY10 as against a profit of Rs 262 crore in same quarter the previous year. Net sales too declined at Rs 2,107 crore from Rs 2,255 crore on year-on-year basis.

In midcap space, Man Infra surged 19% as company signed pact with Turkish Co STFA for port, marine construction in India.

State Bank of Bikaner (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore rallied 14-17%, which could be because of SEBI approved Rs 800 crore rights issue of SBBJ. Bajaj Finserv shot up 8%.

However, Radico Khaitan cracked 11% as the company made alleged disclosure of Rs 100 crore during I-T raids, according to sources. NV Distilleries also raided by I-T department authorities, say sources.

Money Matters, Punj Lloyd, Gitanjali Gems and Himadri Chemical lost 3-5%.

In smallcap space, Geodesic, Prraneta Inds, Seshasayee Paper, Hexaware Tech and Siyaram Silk were up 6-9%. However, A K Capital Services, KRBL, Parrys Sugar, India Securities and Newtime Infra fell 5-10%.

Breadth was slightly in favour of declines - about 591 shares advanced as against 671 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

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Sensex lacklustre; SBI, TCS, ICICI Bank slip

The benchmark Sensex was directionless today and was hovering just around its previous closing value at 12:06 hours, ahead of expiry tomorrow and budget on Monday.