Mumbai, Nov 29 (IANS) Value buying, coupled with short covering and a firm rupee, lifted the Indian equities markets on Tuesday.
However, profit booking capped gains during the second half of trade. Both the key indices, which started the day's trade on a buoyant note, finally closed with marginal gains.
Global markets are cautious ahead of the upcoming OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) meeting on Wednesday and the US non-farm payrolls data on Friday.
On the domestic front, investors are watchful ahead of key domestic macro-economic data announcements, like India's GDP, fiscal deficit and eight core industrial output data on Wednesday, and the manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) data on December 1.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) edged up by 15.25 points or 0.19 per cent, to 8,142.15 points.
The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,408.62 points, closed at 26,394.01 points -- up 43.84 points or 0.17 per cent from the previous close at 26,350.17 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,587.07 points and a low of 26,354.66 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,570 advances and 1,028 declines.
On Monday, the benchmark indices had ended on a flat note on the back of value buying and short covering.
The barometer index had risen by 33.83 points or 0.13 per cent, while the NSE Nifty was up by 12.60 points or 0.16 per cent.
"Both the Sensex and the Nifty traded in the green on the back of lower level buying. However, the indices shed their early gains in the late trading session due to profit booking," Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Hem Securities, told IANS.
"Investors are also cautious ahead of upcoming major global events like the OPEC meet and US non-farm payrolls data, and the announcement of key domestic macro data."
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the CNX Nifty failed to sustain at higher levels and witnessed resistance at higher levels in second half of the session. However, downside in USD/INR futures supported the Nifty at lower levels.
"IT and banking stocks traded with volatile sentiments witnessing selling pressure at higher levels," Desai said.
"Pharma, auto, power and media-entertainment stocks traded with firm sentiments on buying support, while oil-gas, textile, aviation and FMCG stocks traded with mixed sentiments."
The Indian rupee strengthened by 11 paise to close at 68.66 against a US dollar from its previous close of 68.77 to a greenback.
In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 715.30 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrips worth Rs 534.20 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE automobile index surged by 429.88 ponts, followed by the consumer durables index, which gained 101.64 points, and the consumer discretionary goods and services index, which rose by 48.92 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE banking index slipped by 82.18 points, followed by the IT index, which fell by 50.01 points, and the FMCG index was down 38.06 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: Maruti Suzuki, up 3.96 per cent at Rs 5,090.85; Asian Paints, up 2.17 per cent at Rs 958.40; Bharti Airtel, up 2.11 per cent at Rs 324.20; Gail, up 2.07 per cent at Rs 426.05; and Hero MotoCorp, up 2.05 per cent at Rs 3,165.
Major Sensex losers were: Axis Bank, down 1.59 per cent at Rs 465.30; Sun Pharmaceuticals, down 1.05 per cent at Rs 706.30; ITC, down 0.99 per cent at Rs 231.20; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 0.83 per cent at Rs 2,258.40; and Infosys, down 0.71 per cent at Rs 972.65.
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