Nifty closes above 5900 1st time since Apr 2011; GMR flies

Key benchmarks closed marginally in the green however, the Nifty managed to close above the 5,900 mark for the first time since April 13, 2011.

At 15.59 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 43.74 points or 0.23% at 19391.86, and the Nifty up 15.20 points or 0.26% at 5904.45.

The heated debate between the UPA and the opposition over FDI in retail continued for the second day in the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha will vote on the matter later this evening. NCP leader Praful Patel said the Maharashtra government will take into consideration the pros and cons before allowing FDI in retail. Key opposition leaders of the JD(U) , AIADMK and the left lashed out at the ruling party saying the government is bending backwards to appease foreign companies and that FDI in  retail will result in high unemployment.

In terms of stock market action, metal stocks did well today as the BSE Metal index rose 1.7 percent after copper prices hit a six-week high. Sterlite Industries topped traders' buy list, surging 5.37 percent. Others names like Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel gained 2-3 percent.

GMR continued to gain on the back of strong support from the Indian government for its cause against the Maldivian government. The stock closed up over 4 percent today at Rs 20.05 a piece. It is up over 7 percent in the last three trading session. (Also read: Ending airport contract will hit Maldivians hard, says GMR )

Private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries continued to gain for the second consecutive session, up 0.87 percent, as the company sold 25 percent stake its Yemen-9 Block to Medco, Indonesia for a sum of USD 90 million. (Full report)

State-run BEML closed the session up over 5 percent after the company announced it has recently bagged an order worth Rs 73 crore from Saudi Arabia for the supply of dumpers and excavators for its mining segment.

Others movers were banking heavyweights State Bank of India and its rival HDFC Bank, up 1 percent each. Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and FMCG major ITC rose 1 percent too.

The big laggard for the day was IT major Infosys, which closed down 1.93% after Cowen & Co slashed its rating 'Outperform' rating on the stock to 'Netural'. Most IT names were down today after Cognizant lowered its revenue guidance in a SEC filing.  (Also read: Why there could be more trouble ahead for Infosys )

Private power producer Tata Power fell 3.67 percent after an inconclusive hearing at CERC yesterday. Housing finance company HDFC and top telecom operator Bharti Airtel were down 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 1659 to 1195 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court gave Sahara more time to repay its bond investors.  The apex court told Sahara to make 3 installments an initial deposit of Rs 5120 crore with SEBI, the remaining 2 installments in January and February.

While buying in metals, realty and oil and gas counters helped Nifty to trade above 5900 for most part of the day, midcaps have been steadily holding out. However, towards late afternoon, the market witnessed sudden weakness with Nifty slipping below 5900.

GMR Infra has moved up since the management clarified its positions as regards to the project termination order from Maldives . The Lok Sabha debating FDI in retail issue has so far seen the ruling party getting an upperhand, which in turn helped retail stocks. Most of them were trading up amid huge volumes. The house will be voting on the issue later in the day.

At 15.02 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 43.53 points or 0.22% at 19391.65, and the Nifty up 6.45 points or 0.11% at 5895.70.

Top five Sensex gainers were Sterlite (up 5%), Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and SBI. Top five Nifty gainers were DLF, Sesa Goa, PNB, Hindalco and Tata Steel. Power and technology stocks remain laggards.

Equity benchmarks wiped out most of its gains with technology stocks dragging the markets. Metals and banking counters were seeing reasonable buying. Shares of organised retailers rose ahead of voting in Lok Sabha today on a motion moved by the Opposition to disallow FDI in multi-brand retail and on FEMA. However, broader markets have performed.

At 12.32 hrs IST, the 30-share Sensex was up 40.10 points or 0.21% at 19388.22, and the Nifty was trading up 6.35 points or 0.11% at 5895.60.

Wipro and Infosys, which have a dominant weightage on the Sensex, were down  2.18% and 1.74%, respectively. After stupendous rally yesterday, profit-taking thwarted Bajaj Auto's further move. It was trading with a loss of 0.72% at Rs 1942 since yesterday's close. Tata Power remained biggest loser with 2.82% cut.

Indian equity benchmarks erased half of early gains due to weakness in technology stocks. However, Asian markets remained firm following rally in Chinese equities; Shanghai surged 3 percent while Hang Seng gained 1.55 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 46.76 points to 19,394.88. Meanwhile, the 50-share NSE Nifty was up 9.35 points at 5,898.60 that hit 5900 today in early trade for the first time since April 2011.

Country's second largest software services exporter Infosys fell 1.5 percent as Nasdaq will drop the stock from its 100 list with effect from next Wednesday. Its rivals TCS and Wipro were down 0.55 percent and 1.77 percent, respectively.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel declined 1.25 percent. Private power producer slipped 1.7 percent on profit booking after yesterday's 4 percent rally.

Metals stocks hogged the limelight with the BSE Metal Index rising 1.5 percent. Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries surged 2-3 percent.

Private sector lender HDFC Bank went up 1 percent while its rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank gained 0.9 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and cigarette major ITC rose 0.9 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors jumped over 2 percent.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1515 to 814 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In the second line shares, BEML shot up 12.6 percent as the company received orders worth Rs 450 crore from Indian Railways.