Nifty edged up taking its tally of gains to the fourth day

The Nifty edged up on Friday, taking its tally of gains to the fourth day, as bits of value buying continued on Dalal Street on day when Textiles, Fertiliser and Automobile stocks were favoured by investors. The index also closed with its first weekly gain since the end of July.

The Nifty inched a point higher at 7,789, falling from its intra-day high of 7,860 points. The Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 21/29 on the Nifty with State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Dr. Reddy's HDFC and Wipro being the top gainers while Cairn,Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Vedanta and BHEL slipping in trade today.

On NSE's top traded list were Infosys, Amtek Auto and ICICI Bank to name a few. Debt-laden Amtek was the top gainer on the Futures and Options segment as well after the company won a reprieve from its bankers who lent it fresh funds to meet is mismatch in its interest payments. The bankers also agreed to rework a part of Amtek's outstanding loans, media reports said. Amtek jumped 47 percent in trade today. Apart from Amtek, strong buying was seen in real-estate player Sobha Developers Ltd.

And on the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex fell 12 points to 25,610 points and its Advance-Decline Ratio deteriorated to 13/17. Tata Steel, Vedanta and Tata Motors were the top losers while software companies Wipro, and Infosys saw action on the positive side mainly due to the weakness in the Rupee and bank stocks continued to dominate the gainer's list.

Tata Motors was the top traded stock on the Sensex as traders sold some shares after a 3-day rally. ICICI, Larsen and Axis Bank were on BSE's top traded list as well.

Wider benchmarks could not hold on to early gains as traders preferred to exit positions ahead of the weekend. Hence, CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500 Indices ended flat after posting modest gains in early deals.

The trend was mixed in the sectorial space against the backdrop of minimal price movements in such indices. The Bank Nifty closed flat at 16,588 points. CNX FMCG, CNX PSU and CNX Realty Indices gained between 0.5-1.0 percent while CNX Metals, CNX Energy and CNX Auto indices edged lower in Friday's trade.

The bears were active on the futures and options space too with just 70 stocks gaining compared with 86 that fell. Amtek, Wockhardt, SRF and Britannia were the top gainers while Cairn, Tata Steel, Godrej Industries, Apollo Hospitals and SAIL slipped in trade. Amtek Auto was clearly the star of the day with the stock surging 14.70 rupees to 45.20.

NIIT Technologies, Motilal Oswal Financials, Sobha Developers and Auto Axles were major stocks that figured prominently on the top volume buzzers list on the National Stock Exchange . On the list of fresh 52 week highs were 8K Miles, Ceat, Abbott Labs, eClerx and Sangam (India) Ltd while Linde India, Sobha Developers, Cox & Kings and Monsanto made it to the list detailing stocks hitting 52-week lows.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)