Nifty gains for 5th staright day on bouts of value buying

Mumbai: Benchmark Nifty continued its rally for the fifth straight session to close marginally higher at 10,342.30 on Wednesday following bouts of buying in media, PSU Bank, FMCG, realty and auto sectors amid positive Asian cues.

Selling in pharma, metal and private bank stocks capped the gains as investors turned cautious on expectations of likely continuity in Fed rate hike and rising oil prices.

Overseas, European stocks were mixed. Asian shares joined a global rally as strong world growth and rising corporate profits lured hordes of investors into equities.

The NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,350.80 and moved in a range of 10,368.70 and 10,309.55 before ending at 10,342.30, marginally up by 15.40 points, or 0.15 percent.

It saw an intra-day movement of 59.15 points.

Broader indices witnessed mixed action today as the Nifty Small Cap index gained 0.52 percent, while the Midcap eased 0.02 percent.

Sector-wise, Media rose by 2.61 percent followed by PSU Bank 1.26 percent, FMCG 0.36 percent, Realty 0.27 percent, Auto 0.25 percent and Finance Service 0.25 percent.

However, Pharma fell by 0.73 percent, Metal 0.66 percent, Private Bank 0.32 percent and Infra 0.10 percent.

Major index gainers were Zee, Adani Ports, GAIL, Ambuja Cement, Ultratech Cement, HDFC, SBI and Asian Paints.

Losers included Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco, Aurobindo Pharma, Bharti InfraTel, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was in favour of losers. On NSE, 947 shares declined and 805 shares advanced. A total of 67 shares were unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 186.

Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 29,866.40 crore from Rs 33,644.09 crore yesterday.

A total of 14,829.44 lakh shares changed hands in 10,772,171 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on NSE stood at Rs 1,44,23,949.09 crore.