Sensex trims initial gains, still up by 86 pts in late morning

A bout of volatility was witnessed in morning deals as the benchmark BSE Sensex trimmed initial gains to trade up by 86 points on buying in consumer durables, oil & gas, healthcare and realty stocks amid firm Asian cues.

However, mild selling was seen in banking and IT sectors. The 30-share Sensex resumed higher at 26,976.66 and hovered in a range of 27,010.27 and 26,804.04 before quoting 26,871.91 at 1115 hours, a rise of 86.36 points or 0.32 per cent from its previous close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty was also trading higher by 16.30 points or 0.20 per cent to 8,135.60 at 1115 hours.

Major gainers were Tata Motors (3.43 pc), GAIL (3.15 pc), Coal India (2.87 pc), Cipla (2.64 pc), Dr Reddy's (2.28 pc), Vedanta (2.07 pc), ONGC (1.85 pc) and Sun Pharma (1.78 pc).
However, BHEL fell by 2.01 per cent followed by Infosys 1.31 per cent and Maruti Suzuki 0.90 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors bought shares worth Rs 649.90 crs yesterday, as per provisional data.

Overseas, prospects of a delay in the US Federal Reserve's rate hike and signs of some stability in oil and commodity markets boosted Asian stocks.

Hang Seng, Straits Times, Nikkei and Taiwan were up by 0.01 per cent to 1.41 per cent, while China was closed for a holiday.