Tepid start at the markets today

Indian stocks got off to a tepid start on Monday as traders partially exited positions on HCL Technologies Ltd. after the software services company reported in-line earnings for its first quarter. Reliance Industries led the gainers on the exchanges and modest gains were seen on pharma and fertiliser stocks.

The Nifty rose 8 points to trade at 8,246 at the start of the week. Reliance Industries, Vedanta, Lupin, Cairn and Wipro posted gains on the Index while Tata Motors, HCL Tech, Zee, ONGC and Tech Mahindra slipped in trade. The Nifty's Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 20/29 and RIL, Jet Airways and HCL Technologies were the top traded stocks on the National Stock Exchange.

Broader markets were bathed in green although gains were modest. The CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500 indices rose more than 0.2 percent each. Gains were higher on the Mid Cap and Small Cap benchmarks. The trend was mixed on the sectoral indices with benchmarks representing the Auto, Finance, IT and Media sectors slipping in trade. Strong gains were seen on the CNX Energy index as also on the pharma and PSU banking spaces.

Sentiment was soft on the Bombay Stock Exchange with the Sensex gaining 87 points, or 0.3 percent, to 27,302 points. GAIL, Infosys, Bharti, Axis and Hero Motors were among the gainers while Bajaj Auto, Coal India and ICICI Bank figured on the losers list on the index where the Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 1:1.

Reliance, Tata Motors and State Bank of India were the top traded stocks on the Sensex.

Bulls were in control in the futures and options space, but only just. 89 futures advanced compared with 73 that fell. Mid Caps dominated the gainers list with Futures of Amtek Auto, Kaveri Seed, McLeod Russel and Hindustan Zinc surging ahead. Mild profit booking was seen on futures of LIC Housing Finance, Adani Enterprises, Grasim, Ceat and Power Grid.

Godrej Consumer Products, Godfrey Philips, Revathi Equipment and Repro India were among the stocks ticking on the top volume buzzers charts.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)