Nifty ends above 5,400

Key share indices ended at their 6-month highs on Thursday on back of renewed buying interest in late trades led by private banking majors, Infosys and metal shares.

The 30 share Sensex closed at 17,831 up 123 points and the Nifty ended up 44 points at 5,412 levels.

On August 4, 2011 the Sensex had ended at 17,940.55 and on August 3, 2011 the Nifty had ended at 5,404.80.

The markets for the most part of the day remain volatile within a narrow range.

Selling pressure was seen in index heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel.

The positive cues from European markets aided sentiment and renewed buying interest in late trades helped the markets recover from the intra-day low levels.

Sterlite Industries was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 4.6% at Rs 130. Jindal Steel also ended higher by nearly 4% at Rs 603. Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, tata Motors, Wipro, ICICI Bank, mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC and Infosys also advanced 1.4-3.4% each.

Other Sensex gainers include, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained over 2% each while Infosys ended up 1% at Rs 2,807.

However, Hindalco slipped 1.4% to end at Rs 542.

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The stock had fallen sharply in early trades after Novelis, the US unit of the company cut its fiscal-year earnings estimate for the second time, citing lower shipments because of soft demand in Europe and weakness in its electronics business in Asia.

Bharti Airtel also slipped over 1% to close at Rs 350 extending their 6.5% drop yesterday, as several brokerages cut their price targets on the stock after the leading Indian mobile operator missed estimates and reported an eighth straight drop in quarterly profit.

Sun Pharma, DLF, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, index heavyweight Reliance Industries, ONGC and GAIL India were also among the notable losers on Thursday.

The BSE Metal index was the top sectoral gainer, up 2% or 247 points at 12,293 levels.

Bhushan Steel was the top gainer from this space, up nearly 9% at Rs 395. JSW Steel, Hindustan Zinc, SAIL, NMDC, Sesa Goa and Coal India also ended higher in trades today.

BSE Realty index also advanced narly 2% or 36 points to 1,905 levels. HDIL, Unitech, Oberoi Realty, Phoenix Mills, Anant Raj Industries and D B Realty were the top gainers from this space.

BSE banking index- Bankex advanced 219 points to 12,068 levels. Union Bank was the top gainer from this space, up 7% to Rs 254.

Yes bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, PNB, Indusind Bank, Federal bank also advanced 1-3.6% each.

Auto, consumer durables, power, IT, PSU and FMCG stocks also edged up in trades today.

However, Oil & Gas, capital goods and healthcare stocks faced the selling pressure in today's deals.

Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals surged 18% to Rs 65.10 after reporting a ten-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 16.72 crore for the quarter ended December, on the of lower raw material cost.

Dhanlaxmi Bank has surged 17% at Rs 67, extending its previous day's 3% gain, on back of huge volumes.

Venky's India slumped 8.5% to Rs 432 after its net profit plunged by 81% on year-on-year (yoy) basis at Rs 2.93 crore for the quarter ended December due to higher expenditure.

The company engaged in packaged food business had a net profit of Rs 15.18 crore in year earlier.

The broader markets also edged highr and outperformed the benchmark indices.

The BSE mid-cap index ended higher by 1.3% at 6,239 levels and the small-cap index ended at 6,892 up 80 points.

The overall breadth was positive as 1,828 stocks advanced while 1,057 stocks declined.