Among the gainers in trade from the Nifty were Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, DLF, Wipro, HUL, Lupin and Axis Bank.

Auto stocks were in the limelight with Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra amongst the gainers.

IT stocks saw some buying support after the stocks lost favour in recent weeks amongst investors. Gainers from the IT pack included Wipro, TCS, Infosys, KPIT Cummins and NIIT Tech.

PSU banking stocks which have been in the limelight in the last few weeks lost some ground with Bank of India, Oriental Bank and Allahabad Bank losing momentum.

Realty stocks continued to hold ground after the battering on Friday with Anant Raj, DB Realty, DLF, Godrej Properties and Unitech ending the day with gains.

Cairn India was up in trade after reports that the oil ministry has decided to allow the company to further explore Rajasthan oil fields

Shares of pharma company FDC ended higher after reports that the Chandavarkar family plans to sell their 67% stake in Pharma company.

Metal stocks ended the day mixed with Jindal Steel and Sail losing ground, while NALCO and Tata Steel ended the day in the green.

Today's trading was characterised by lower volumes and less volatility, as investors, particularly institutional focused on the holiday season ahead.

Markets in Asia also ended the day with marginal gains with the Chinese Shanghai Composite and the Hang Sang ending the day with gains.

The week ahead is a truncated one with the markets being closed on Tuesday for Christmas. Markets are likely to await the outcome of a solution to the fiscal crisis in the US to break-out on the upside.

GoodReturns.in