Markets end higher; metals shine

Updated: Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 15:40 [IST]

Markets ended the day higher with buying interest in select metal and banking stocks leading to a smart jump in indices. Firm trends from Europe also helped support the market.

The Sensex closed the day higher by 131 points, while the Nifty gained 43 points . Among the gainers in trade were high beta names in metals and banking.

Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Jaiprakash Associates were the top Nifty gainers. Today's rally was also led by software stocks, which saw Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL gaining ground on a softer rupee.

Top index losers were NTPC, Bhel, Cairn India, HeroMotorCorp and Maruti Suzuki.

Bharti Airtel which rallied sharply in the last couple of trading sessions saw profit booking and ended lower.

Retail stocks that came in for hammering on Tuesday ahead of the parliament session, over the fate of FDI in multi-brand retail saw buying at lower levels.

Retail stocks that climbed included Shoppers Stop, Pantaloon retail and Provogue.

Among non-index stocks shares of software major, MphasiS fell 2.8 per cent after majority owner Hewlett-Packard (HP) took a massive $8.8 billion writedown, after alleging a massive accounting scandal at its British software unit Autonomy.

Indian markets are expected to remain choppy as the parliament session, which begins on Thursday is likely to be stormy, with crucial bills awaiting to be passed.

Meanwhile, the major markets in Asia including the Hong Kong's Hang Sang, the Chinese Shanghai Composite and the Japanese Nikkei ended the day with gains.

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