Nifty closes flat; Bharti, ICICI Bk, Hero Honda top gainers

The benchmark Nifty closed flat with a positive bias, after witnessing a rangebound trading session throughout the day. Heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI and Hero Honda helped the markets to stay in positive territory.

Commenting on the road ahead, technical analyst Mitesh Thacker of miteshthacker.com maintains a range of 5,450-5,480 on the upside and 5,370-5,350 on the downside. He said 5,510-5,520 could be a strong supply area on the Nifty. However, he cautioned that if Nifty breaks 5,350 it could have a bigger movement on the lower side.

HDFC, DLF, Kotak Mahindra Bank, BHEL, BPCL, Idea, Sun Pharma, Hindalco and Jaiprakash Associates were other gainers. However, selling in power, technology and select power companies' shares along with ONGC, L&T, Reliance Communications, HDFC Bank, SAIL, M&M, Tata Motors and Sterlite Industries limited the gains to major extent.

Equity benchmarks have seen consolidation today, as it had rallied 1.2% on Monday following global cues and good earnings of ICICI Bank. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 18,114.83, up 33.62 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty 7.9 points to settle at 5,439.55.

Overall financial was the leading sector for the second consecutive day, led by ICICI Bank, which rose 2.4% today. The stock rallied 14.5% in last one month. Good improvement in asset quality helped the bank to post 17% jump in net profit for Q1FY11. Among other financials, SBI, HDFC and Axis Bank were up 0.4-0.9% while HDFC Bank and IDFC fell 0.65-1%.

Bharti Airtel from telecom space also gained 3.3% and Idea Cellular rose 1.25% while Reliance Communications fell 2.6%. Some Anil Dhirbhai Ambani Group companies' shares were under pressure today; RNRL and Reliance Power fell 2.5-3.3% while Reliance Infra gained 0.4%.