Markets end higher amid rangebound trade led by financials

Markets ended marginally higher on Monday, amid range bound trades, led by gains in financials and capital goods shares.

At the close, the Sensex was up 33 points at 19,501 and the Nifty gained 11 points to end at 5,898.

Earlier in the day, the Sensex touched a low of 19,462. However, buying in heavyweights led the benchmark index to touch a high off 19,554 in noon deals after which the markets have up some of its early gains to close away from the day's high.

Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed, in today's trade. The smallcap index added 0.7% while the midcap index gained 0.4% as compared to the Sensex which was marginally up by 0.1%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average jumped 2.1% on Monday, led by banks and exporters as the yen softened after Japan escaped direct criticism of its aggressive monetary easing at the weekend's G20 meeting.

The Nikkei added 234 points to 11,408, close to the 4-year high of 11,498 it struck on February 6.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares fell on Monday weighed down by Chinese insurers and banks and pressured by losses in mainland China markets as they reopened after a long holiday break.

The Hang Seng index ended down 0.3% at 23,382 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5% to 2,421.

The euro and the dollar gained against the yen on Monday after the G20 decided not to criticise Japan for its expansionary policies, but Europe's weak growth outlook and the approach of Italian elections capped the moves.

Financial leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies promised in their final statement after a weekend meeting not to devalue their currencies to boost exports, in a bid to defuse talk of currency wars among major nations.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares opened down 0.1 percent at 1,160 points, with Germany's DAX, the UK's FTSE and France's CAC-40 flat to slightly weaker.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, Realty, capital Goods and Power indices were the top gainers, up 1-2%. On the other hand, It and Consumer Durables closed in the negative, down 0.2-0.5% and  Oil & Gas index closed flat with a negative bias.

The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Sterlite and L&T up 1.5-2%. HDFC, BHEL, SBI, Hero MotoCorp and Hindalco up 1% each were the other notable gainers.

Among the losers were Jindal Steel, Coal India, ONGC, Dr Reddys Lab, Bajaj Auto and TCS down over 1%.

Unichem Laboratories gained 4.2% at Rs 183 after the company said in a release late Friday, that the board has approved the sale of new formulation manufacturing unit on a slump sale basis to Mylan Laboratories Limited for a total consideration of Rs. 160.50 crores.

Shares of HDIL were up nearly 4% at Rs 69.50 after the company's management clarified on the recent promoters' stake sale last month.

The management, at its earnings conference call on Friday, responded to a query saying that the share sale was done to make partial payment for a 15-acre mill land located at Byculla in central Mumbai.

Shares of Suzlon Energy were up 3% on huge volumes on reports that the debt-ridden company plans to turnaround by sale of non-core assets.

The wind-energy major plans to raise Rs 2,200 crore from sale of stake of its components manufacturing subsidiaries in the next 12-24 months, Economic Times reported on Monday.

Geodesic was locked in 5% lower circuit at Rs 13.25, hitting a 52-week low, after the company on Friday announced a huge loss in the second quarter ended December 2012.

The company reported a loss of Rs 18.96 crore on a total income of Rs 100 crore on a standalone basis for the second quarter ended December 2012.

The market breadth was positive owing to the strength in broader markets. 1216 stocks declined while 837 stocks advanced on the BSE.