Sensex shuts shop with 152 points gain

Markets flip-flopped between the zones on Monday on mixed cues from global peers.

The Sensex after a firm start dropped into red.

The index recovered for a short while only to lose all its gains and touch a low of 20,047.

After changing directions at least seven times during the day, the BSE benchmark touched a high of 20,336.

The index finally ended (provisional) at 20,309 -- up 152 points.

The Nifty ended up 50 points at 6,121.

"I do not see further downside in the long-term on the back of robust growth prospectus and good quarterly results. Foreign inflows will continue", says Subhash C Aggarwal, CMD, SMC Global Securities.

European stocks have dropped for the fourth straight day on debt worries. Asian markets also ended in red. Hang Seng dropped 1% to 24,027.

The Chinese markets had crashed 5% on Friday. The Nikkei and Shanghai Composite on the other hand, added 1% each in trades.

BSE bankex jumped 2.3% following the inflation data which was in-line with analyst's expectations. Government data showed that the inflation in October has risen 8.58%.

SBI jumped 4.4% to Rs 3,164.  HDFC bank added 2.8% to Rs 2,385. ICICI Bank was up 1.7% at Rs 1,223.

Corporate earnings decided the direction of trade for some stocks. Tata Steel gained 2% at Rs 620 on reporting a turnaround in Q2 net profits.

Reliance Communications on the other hand dropped 3% in today's trades but managed to recover - ending flat at Rs 170. The company reported 40% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 445

crore.

IT firm, Mahindra Satyam will be announcing its quarterly numbers today. ABG Shipyard will also come out with its results. Shree Renuka's net sales Rs 2,460 cr.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the government would be selling shares in state run firms like SCI and Manganese Ore by the end of this month.

Cipla gained 4% at Rs 344. "We are positively surprised by Cipla results both on the top-line and OPM front. We recommend a buy on the stock with a target of Rs 388", says Angel Broking

Mahindra & Mahindra added 3.3% to Rs 800. Wipro, Tata Steel, Hero Honda and Infosys were also among the Sensex gainers.

Meanwhile, Reliance Infrastructure and DLF slipped 1.7% each tO Rs 1,030 and Rs 322, respectively. Jaiprakash Associates was down 1% at rs 128.

NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, ACC, Jindal Steel declined over 1% each. Market heavyweight, Reliance was down 0.7% at Rs 1,054.

BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 3,105 stocks traded, 1,675 declined while 1,278 advanced.

SBI topped the value chart, followed by Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Reliance and IDBI Bank.