Sensex ends higher, tracking Asian markets

Mumbai: The stock markets failed to leverage the early momentum, but managed to close a little higher at 28,334 ahead of IIP numbers even as other Asian bourses closed at 18-month high amid a higher opening in Europe.

Lacklustre quarterly readings of a few Nifty constituents made sentiment depressed. On top of it, a rush to take profit towards the close of the session washed out much of the initial gains.

The Sensex after opening higher climbed to a high of 28,456.18, but hit a low of 28,286.80 before ending up 4.55 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 28,334.25. The gauge had gained 39.78 points yesterday.

The broader NSE Nifty, which recaptured the 8,800-mark and touched a high of 8,822.10 intra-day, finally finished at 8,793.55, up 15.15 points, or 0.17 per cent.

There was a rally in global markets on upbeat Chinese trade data and an overnight record close in the US markets after President Donald Trump promised to unveil tax cuts soon.

However, investors turned cautious before release of key macro data -- industrial production (IIP) for December. For the third straight week, the Sensex recorded a rise -- this time, 93.73 points, or 0.33 per cent -- while the Nifty gained 52.60 points, or 0.60 per cent, respectively.

In the the 30-share Sensex pack, 15 ended higher. TCS took the top spot, surging 3.12 per cent to Rs 2,396.70 followed by Adani Ports 2.23 per cent at Rs 311.25. Shares of country's largest lender SBI ended up 0.15 per cent at Rs 276.25 after it posted a 71 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,152.2 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016.

Other big movers of the day are Infosys (2.10 per cent), Tata Steel (1.71 per cent), NTPC (1.22 per cent), L&T (0.81 per cent), Coal India (0.79 per cent), Axis Bank (0.73 per cent) and Bharti Airtel 0.63 per cent. Among sectoral indices, IT rose the most by 2.06 per cent followed by technology 1.61 per cent, capital goods 0.42 per cent, bank 0.24 per cent and power 0.12 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 356.63 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. Broader markets displayed a mixed trend as the BSE small-cap index rose 0.14 per cent while mid-cap index fell 0.28 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 2.49 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.21 per cent while Shanghai Composite surged 0.42 per cent. Europe was trading in the positive terrain too in the early session, with the UK's FTSE, Frankfurt's DAX and Paris' CAC advancing by up to 0.41 per cent.