Nifty ends above 6000; ITC, HDFC top gainers in late trade

Equity benchmarks bounced back in late trade, helped by heavyweights ITC and HDFC. The 50-share NSE Nifty closed above 6000 level for the first time in last three sessions on some short covering, rising 13.30 points to 6,001.70.

Meanwhile, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 51.10 to 19,742.52.

The market has been consolidating since it touched the psychological 6000 mark last week on US fiscal cliff deal and diesel price hike hopes.

Experts have been bullish on the market saying the index will test new highs in the current year.

The Nifty has been very constructive and has a decent chance of retesting its all time high of 6,357, Louise Yamada, MD, Louise Yamada Technical Research Advisors said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Yamada is bullish on India and finds it as the most attractive market within the emerging market basket.

Meanwhile, cigarette major ITC and housing finance company HDFC topped the buying list in late trade, rising 2 percent each.

Country's largest lender State Bank of India and telecom operator Bharti Airtel were up 1 percent each.

Healthcare firms remained on buyers' radar. Dr Reddy's Labs rose 1.1 percent, which hit record high of Rs 1,919.25 today. Sun Pharma and Cipla went up 1.3 percent.

Software services exporter TCS rose 0.6 percent whereas its rival Infosys and Wipro were down over 1.4 percent. Infosys is set to announce its third quarter results on Friday.

State-owned oil & gas producer ONGC moved up 0.8 percent while its rival Reliance Industries declined 0.5 percent.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro fell 1.5 percent after Citi downgraded the stock to neutral with a reduced target price of Rs 1,732.

Metals stocks remained on sellers' radar. Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel and Hindalco were down 0.8-1.6 percent.

Markets have picked up a bit with Nifty managing to cling on to the 6000 mark. At 15.04 PM, the Sensex is up 54.91 points or 0.28% at 19746.33, and the Nifty up 13.95 points or 0.23% at 6002.35.

Metals were the top losers on the bourses tracking global prices. Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Infosys and Sterlite Industries lost more than 1 percent each.

Top gainers on the Sensex were ITC (2.3 percent), Cipla (1.2 percent), Sun Pharma (1.4 percent), HDFC (1.8 percent) and SBI (1.1 percent).

Indian market continued to trade flat with negative bias; European markets opened weak.  At 1.30 PM, the Sensex was down 34.33 points or 0.17% at 19657.09, and the Nifty down 17.20 points or 0.29% at 5971.20.Sensex is down 26.26 points or 0.13% at 19665.16, and the Nifty down 16.45 points or 0.27% at 5971.95.

Midcaps and small caps too are seeing profit booking. Metals were the top losers on the bourses tracking global prices. Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Infosys and Sterlite Industries lost 1 percent to 10 percent each.

Top gainers on the Sensex were ITC (1.95 percent), Cipla (1.46 percent), Sun Pharma (1.19 percent), HDFC (1.02 percent) and Dr Reddy's (0.97 percent).

Meanwhile, stocks belonging to oil and marketing group have slowed down after rallying for the last two days. HPCL was trading at Rs 319.70 down 2.81% from its previous close  while index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 852.25, down 0.34% from its previous close of Rs 855.15.

Indian equity benchmarks remained lacklustre since early trade due to lack of global and local cues. The fall in capital goods, metals and oil & gas stocks offset gains in ITC, HDFC, TCS, State Bank of India and Tata Motors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 20 points to 19,671.49 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 12.75 points to 5,975.65.

The market has been consolidating since hitting the 6000 level last week. Experts continue to look bullish and are expecting new high in 2013.

Siddharth Bhamre of Angel Broking told CNBC-TV18 that he maintains a positive stance on the market. ''We have seen good consolidation in December series, around 12100-12200 Bank Nifty levels and were suggesting to go long with a target of 12800. Now we have revised the upward target to 13600 over there. We are expecting 6150 from the Nifty ,'' he adds.

Meanwhile, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro dropped 1.7 percent as Citi has downgraded the stock to neutral with a reduced target price of Rs 1,732.

Infosys, India's second largest software services exporter went down 1.25 percent ahead of third quarter earnings that scheduled to be announced on Friday while its rival TCS rose 0.77 percent.

Metals stocks, which participated in last week's rally, were under pressure. Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sterlite plunged 1.6 percent each.

Country's biggest private lender ICICI Bank was down 0.5 percent whereas its rival State Bank of India was up 0.45 percent.

Healthcare firms were on buyers' radar. Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs gained more than 1 percent.

Cigarette major ITC jumped over 1 percent and housing finance company HDFC moved up 0.65 percent.

Key equity indices drifted lower in early trade Tuesday, as the market tries to consolidate its recent gains. A worrying macro-economic picture was holding investors from buying heavily at higher levels, brokers said. The Nifty was down 10 points at 5978, and the Sensex was down 24 points at 19667.

Jet Air, GMR Infra, Thermax and HPCL were down 2-3 percent, while Marico, Glenmark Pharma, Exide and Reliance Communications were up by a similar margin.

Broadly, healthcare and automobile shares were up, while capital goods, metal and IT shares were under pressure. Brokers said mood has turned a bit cautious as the market is now seen to be lacking in fundmental triggers, both global and domestic. The run-up in prices over the last month has stocks discounting most of the positives, they said.

Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS said the market was close to a temporary peak, and advised clients to book profits above 6000 on the Nifty. He expects third quarter earnings to be average, and even though there could be a few mild surprises, he does not see it impacting stock prices much.

The next key event market is keenly awaiting is the RBI policy review on January 29. And while an overwhelming majority of majority of market participants are hopeful of the central bank cutting the benchmark repo rate, this too has been discounted by the market to a large extent.

"We expect the Reserve Bank to cut the repo rate at its 29 January meeting, probably by 50 basis points to 7.5%," said a Credit Suisse report on Monday.

"In our view, the move would be best described as a belated pat on the government's back following its September reform announcements. We doubt that a January cut requires inflation to drop further from here," the report said.