The Sensex was trading up by 41 points, while the Nifty rose by 6 points. Among the early gainers in were the oil markets companies including names like BPCL, ONGC, Cairn India and Indian Oil Corporation on hopes that there would be a diesel price hike later this week.

Realty stocks which were in the limelight in the last few trading sessions came in for selling pressure, with prominent stocks that lost ground including names like DLF, Godrej Properties and Unitech.

PSU banking stocks continued to be in the limelight with stocks like Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank being amongst the winners.

Prominent losers from the Nifty included names like Larsen, Ultratech Cement, Power Grid and Tata Power.

Auto stocks continued to find buyers with Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, HeroMotorcorp and Bosh among the winners.

Banking stocks were trading marginally higher with the exception of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank which both lost ground.

Among non index stocks, shares of Hindustan Motors jumped 13% on reports that the board was meeting to approve a re-structuring exercise. Indra Prastha Gas was up 2.2% on reports of a hike in gas prices.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading mixed with the Honk Kong and the Chinese markets higher, while markets in Japan and Sinagpore lost ground.

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