Sensex trims gains; Pharma, FMCG, Banks buoyant

Sensex trims gains; Pharma, FMCG, Banks buoyant

The BSE benchmark Sensex trimmed its initial sharp gains but managed to trade higher by 111 points in the late morning trade on buying mainly in Pharma, FMCG, and Banking sectors on the back persistent foreign capital inflows. At 12.16 pm, the Sensex was trading up 111.71 points or 0.58% at 19521.40, and the 50-share Nifty was up 27.85 points or 0.47% at 5936.75.

Hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy review next week boosted market sentiment. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 698.23 crore on Monday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

An hour ago, Nifty had touched a 23-month high when it crossed previous high of 5950 made on December 7. The Sensex gainers include HUL (2.54%), Bajaj Auto (2.29%), Sun Pharma (2.48%), HDFC (1.59%) and Jindal Steel (1.43%). FMCG major ITC gave up some gains garnered in the morning but is trading at Rs 304.30 up 0.98% from its previous close of Rs 301.35.

Asian stocks showed a mixed trend in the early trade amid signs of progress in talks over the US fiscal cliff of billions of dollars in upcoming tax hikes and spending cuts in the world's biggest economy. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea rose by between 0.18 per cent to 0.46 per cent while indices in China, Japan, and Taiwan shed by between 0.23 per cent to 0.41 per cent.