JOIN USBesides, Tata Steel's two-fold jump in net profit in the third quarter this fiscal lifted the trading sentiment. Brokers said retailers were cautious after the three-day pull-back rally and decided to play safe ahead of the Union Budget 2011-12 to be announced on February 28, and the expiry of derivatives contract on February 24.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer continued to veer in and out of the positive terrain between 18,358.84 and 18,216.12 before settling the day at 18,300.90, a net gain of 27.10 points or 0.15 per cent. However, the NSE 50-issue Nifty ended flat at 5,481.70 from 5,481.00 previously.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that inflation will fall to 7 per cent by March-end and the government was trying to tackle the situation without hurting growth,which he pegged at around 8.5 per cent for this fiscal.
He also indicated that there would be more reforms will be unveiled in the 2011-12 Budget.
Tata Steel closed up 3.97 per cent on excellent Q3 performance, with net profit more than doubling. It helped Sensex to end in the positive terrain.
"Metal stocks emerged as the centre of brisk activity during the session, helping Sensex to maintain its winning streak," said Manaoj Choraria, a Delhi-based stock broker. He said continued short-covering in select heavy-weight stocks too supported the upward trend.
Jindal Steel and Power also was in strong demand and notched up handsome gains of 3.28 per cent. From the realty segment, Unitech flared up 9.30 per cent, Ackruti City by 8.70 pc, Parsvnath Dev by 6.75 pc, Mahindra Life - 2.83 pc, Orbid Corp - 2.27 pc, Indiabulls Real Est - 2.04 pc and HDIL by 1.78 pc.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 233.05 crore yesterday as per provisional data, after injecting Rs 228.40 crore on Monday. From the overseas markets, Asian stocks ended mixed with upward bias. Key indices from China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore ended in the green, while those from South Korea and Taiwan closed in the red. European shares were trading higher in their afternoon deals.
In all, 14 of 30 index-based stocks closed with gains, while others finished with losses. Jaipra Asso was the top gainer from the Sensex pack with a surge of 6.67 per cent. Other major gainers were Wipro (3.03 pc), Tata Power (1.74 pc), L&T (1.51 pc), HUL (0.99 pc) and SBI (0.90 pc).
However, HDFC was the top loser with a fall of 2.53 per cent followed by Rel Com (1.72 pc), M&M (1.55 pc), Hero Honda (1.41 pc), ONGC (1.18 pc), Cipla (1.05 pc), BHEL (0.97 pc) and HDFC Bank (0.69 pc).
Among the sectoral indices, BSE-Realty firmed up by 2.12 per cent, BSE-Metal by 1.49 pc and BSE-CD by 1.02 pc, while BSE-HC declined 0.58 pc and BSE-Auto by 0.37 pc.
The total market breadth remained positive with 1,688 stocks gaining ground against 1,104 finishing with fall on BSE. The total turnover dropped to Rs 3,094.03 crore from Rs 3,791.96 crore yesterday.