Sluggish Trades Continue

The Indian markets continue to trade in narrow range, though with a positive bias. Both Nifty and Sensex are trading up by 0.20%. However, trades are likely to be sluggish ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The Nifty has touched a high of 5871.90 and a low of 5848.30 so far in the day, and is currently trading higher by 7 points at 5855. The Sensex touched a high of 19,347 and a low of 19,261.66, and is currently at 19288, up by 46 points.

The market breadth is strong as of now. On the NSE, 757 shares have advanced and 614 have declined.

Top 5 NSE Gainers: Tata Motors is the top gainer on the NSE as yet, up by 1.87%. It was followed by DLF, Bharat Petroleum, Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever.

Top 5 NSE Losers: ONGC is the top loser on the NSE this afternoon, trading lower by 1.90%. Next in line were Maruti Suzuki India, UltraTech Cement, Jindal Steel and Power and Jaiprakash Associates.

11 of the 13 sectors indices are trading higher. TECk, IT, Realty and CG are among the best performing sectors, up in the range of 0.95%-1.25%. Oil & Gas and Bankex continue to witness selling pressure and are trading lower by 0.53% and 0.08% respectively.

The Asian markets are trading flat to positive. The Shanghai Composite has gained 0.27%, Hang Seng is up by 0.15% at 22,541 and Straits Times is higher 0.15% at 3168.

We expect the markets to trade in a narrow range ahead of the Christmas holiday. There are no cues from the domestic and international markets. The range for Nifty would be 5845-5875, while the broader range would be 5825-5905.