Nifty holds 6150; banks, metals, auto, realty up

At 10:36 hours IST - the benchmark Sensex erased half of its early trade gains due to sell-off in NTPC, Bharti Airtel, L&T, BHEL, Infosys and Wipro. However, buying support to the markets continued from financial, auto, metal, realty, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and FMCG companies' shares. Reliance Industries, ONGC and TCS were also quite supportive.

The Nifty was trying to hold 6150 level on first day on 2011. Suresh A Mahadevan, Head of India Research, UBS Securities said that markets may gain 15-20% in 2011. According to him, telecom and infrastructure stocks could perform well while some quality names in real estate could see some buying in 2011. Support was led by Asian markets too; Hang Seng was up 1.4% and Straits Times up 1.2%. Kospi and Taiwan gained 0.6% each. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 20,588, up 79.5 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 23.5 points to 6,158. The BSE Midcap Index was up 0.9% and Smallcap up 1.3%. Among frontliners, Sterlite Industries, M&M, Tata Steel, Reliance Communications, DLF, Sesa Goa and SAIL gained 1.5-2.3%. However, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Infosys, L&T and Cipla lost 0.3-1.5%. Tata Steel, SBI, Indiabulls Financial, Ravi Kumar Distilleries, Tata Motors, M&M and Jubilant Foodworks were most active shares on exchanges. In midcap space, JSW Holdings, Prakash Industries, Indiabulls Financial, Jubilant Foodworks and KGN Industries gained 3.8-6.8% while Money Matters, Gammon Infra, Blue Dart, Patni Computer and HCL Info fell 1.75-4%. In smallcap space, Gabriel India surged 14.70% and Rollatainers was up 11.85%. Elpro Intl, Vindhya Telelink and Asian Hotel (W) went up 6.5-9% while Spectacle Info,
SVC Resources, Midfield Industries, Urja Global and Subhkam Capital slipped 5% each. Breadth was in favour of advances; about 2047 shares advanced while 483 shares declined on Bombay Stock Exchange. _PAGEBREAK_ Nifty begins year on positive note; Asian mkts support The benchmark Nifty started the year 2011 on a positive note, led by buying in financial, auto, metal and realty stocks. Even midcaps and smallcaps followed the same trend. Asian markets were quite supportive in early trade today. Among frontliners, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, M&M, Hero Honda, DLF, Reliance Communications, Sterlite, Sesa Goa, JSPL, SAIL, Tata Steel, SBI, Kotkak Mahindra Bank and PNB were on buyers' radar. Tata Motors' December total sales went 31% at 67,441 units (YoY) and M&M's up 42% at 34,062 units (YoY). Both stocks gained 2% each. Hero Honda rose 1.5% as country's largest two wheeler manufacturer sold 501,111 units in the month of December 2010 - a highest ever sales made by company, a surge of 33% over the corresponding month in 2009. However, Bharti Airtel, ACC and Infosys were marginally down. At 9:17 hours IST, the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 37 points to 6,171 and the 30-share BSE Sensex gained 134 points at 20,643. The CNX Midcap rallied 68 points at 8,925 and the Nifty Junior rose 98 points to 12,330. About 667 shares advanced as against 103 shares declined on National Stock Exchange. Midcap & Smallcap space: Textile Ministry seeks Rs 2,003 crore from Cabinet for 2011-2012 under Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting government sources. Arvind and Alok Industries gained 2% each. TVS Motor rallied 3.5% ahead of monthly auto numbers. Apolly Tyres went up 3.5% on good growth in auto companies' sales numbers. 3i Infotech rose 2.3% and Subex was up 1.6%. Shree Renuka Sugars and Balrampur Chini moved up 1.5%. Indraprastha Gas was up 2%. Prakash Industries shot up 6%. Jet Airways was up 1% and Kingfisher up 1.5%; both companies hike fuel surcharge by up to Rs 200/Ticket. However, Shree Ashtavinayak tumbled 5%. Patni lost 3.5% as board raises concern on iGATE deal and was unhappy with iGATE