Nifty back above 6K at close; infra shines, IT dips

Equity benchmarks continued consolidation for the second consecutive day and closed on a flat note on Tuesday. The Nifty hold 6000 level though it slipped below the same level in an intraday trade due to sell-off in heavyweights.

Even weak European cues pulled the Nifty down in second half of trade but global markets also recovered, at the time of closing of Indian equities. European markets were flat in trade while US index futures were trading 0.3% higher. Asian markets closed in red; Shanghai, Hang Seng, Nikkei and Straits Times were down 0.5-1%.

Benchmarks were volatile in trade due to tussle between bulls and bears. On the one side, Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank, HUL, Sterlite, SAIL, Ranbaxy Labs along with technology and select auto companies' shares witnessed selling pressure.

However, capital goods, power, cement and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG ahead of AGMs) companies' shares along with DLF, M&M, HDFC Bank, SBI, Tata Steel and Sun Pharma were on buyers' radar, which remained quite supportive for the entire session.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 20,104.86, down 12.52 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 6.15 points to settle at 6,029.50. The Nifty September futures ended at 26 points premium and October futures at 41.7 points premium, as per provisional data.

Nandan Chakraborty Head of Research at Enam Securities sees the immediate term party continuing. "Essentially it is driven by the very high expectations of another quantitative easing (QE) by the Fed and connected with that is another housing bailout. Obviously this means a great deal to India because it is not just the liquidity of flows but it is also the effect on the dollar and we are a dollar country. Our imports are in dollar, our debt is in dollar. So to the extent that the dollar cracks, it benefits India. So I think the party will continue for sometime at least," he said.