Markets Close on a Positive Note

Markets ended a choppy session of trade in the green led by gains in banking and oil & gas shares. After two days of pull back rally, Nifty opened in the red at 5,468 on back of lacklustre cues from Asia and swung between 5408 and 5507. The S&P CNX Nifty tested 5500 in the last leg of trade and pared some gains to closed at 5481, up 25 points supported by rally in banking stocks. The Sensex ended up 72 points, at 18,273. ADAG stocks climbed after leading the losses in the past few sessions. Reliance Capital was up 8.2 per cent, Reliance Communication jumped 3.8 per cent and Reliance Power was up 2.2 per cent. From the Oil & Gas space, Reliance Industries was up 2.9 per cent, Indian Oil Corporation gained 1.9 per cent and ONGC was up 1.1 per cent. Hindustan Copper gained 18 per cent, Dredging Corporation surged 8.5 per cent and HMT advanced 5.3 per cent from the PSU space. Banking shares were leading the gains, ICICI Bank was up 2 per cent, Punjab National Bank surged 3.5 per cent and State Bank of India zoomed 1.4 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank surged 3.4 per cent and Yes Bank gained 2.7 per cent. Capital Goods index was leading the losses, Reliance Industrial Infra fell 17.3 per cent, Havells India dipped 2.5 per cent and BEML declined 1.3 per cent. Broader markets were trading mixed, the midcap index ended flat and small cap index was up 0.6 per cent. Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1 per cent, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite closed flat, up 0.01 per cent.