Nifty ends with modest gains; Ambani group cos' shrs surge

The benchmark Nifty erased nearly all gains in last ten minutes of trade and closed the session on a flat note with positive bias, despite buying in Reliance group companies' shares. Financial, metal, realty, auto and pharma companies' shares along with ITC and ONGC dragged the Nifty below 4950 level. The Sensex wiped out 288 points and Nifty 86 points from day's high.

Reliance was the buzz on the street today post Ambani brothers' patch up news. Billionaire Ambani brothers have at last struck truce. In a step towards reconciliation of their long-running feud on Sunday, Mukesh and Anil Ambani announced that they are ending non-compete agreements in a step they hoped would lead to cooperation between the two groups. Experts believe this would be good opportunity for Reliance Industries.

Ashvin Parekh of Ernst & Young said this was a very good opportunity for Reliance Industries, especially in telecom. ''The company would certainly explore entering the financial services sector.'' He further went on to say that insurance and asset management could be easy options for RIL.

Investment Advisor SP Tulsian, said, RIL could be interested in thermal power projects. ''The company would be interested in acquiring two to three ultra mega power projects (UMPPs).''

Shares of Mukesh Ambani group company Reliance Industries rose 2.7% and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure gained 11%. Even shares of Anil Ambani group companies like Reliance Communications, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Capital went up 4-11%. RNRL surged 22.58%.  

The 30-shares Sensex closed at 16,469.55, up 23.94 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose just 12.80 points to 4,943.95, which hit 5000 mark in early trade. However, the Nifty May Futures ended with 32 points discount, as per provisional data.