Markets end firm on RIL, L&T

Markets ended the day in the positive zone, albeit off the highs of the day as HDFC results were shurgged off by the street.

The Sensex opened firm this morning at 20,133 on the back of gains in Reliance.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,163 and finally ended up 63 points at 20,102. Nifty was up 18 points at 6,082.

"Nifty was consolidating in the range of 5940-6060 from past few weeks and got the breakout of same in the last traded week, subsequently registered fresh 52 week high with good volume.

"Today, it is moving higher which indicates that buying is still more aggressive at current levels we anticipate that buying momentum can continue for coming day which suggest the upside target of 6150-6200. Positive sentiments remains continue till Nifty holds the level of 5920 in near term," said Mudit Goyal, technical analyst, SMC Global.

In Asia, stocks traded mostly higher in a choppy session Monday, with Japanese shares sliding back from last week's multi-year peaks as a two-day meeting at the Bank of Japan got underway.

Nikkei slipped 1.5% at 10,748. Shanghai Composite advanced added 0.5% at 2,328.

European shares inched towards two-year highs and German Bund futures dipped, as a political attempt to break a budget impasse in the United States revived appetite for shares and dented appetite for safe-haven assets.

Meanwhile, retaining India's credit rating at the existing level, global agency Moody's has cautioned that a high fiscal deficit could pull down the growth in the coming years.

"Large government deficits and debt ratios as well as supply constraints in the form of infrastructure, policy and administrative inefficiencies constrain the sovereign credit profile," Moody's said in India rating report.

On the positive side, the global rating agency reaffirmed sovereign credit rating of India at Baa3, which indicates investment grade, with a stable outlook.

HDFC, a housing finance provider, reported a net profit of Rs 1,140 crore for the third quarter ended December 31,2012.

This marks a 16% growth from Rs 981 crore for the year-ago

period.

The total income increased 17% to Rs 5,250 crore as against Rs 4,472 crore in the same period a year ago.

BSE capital goods index jumped 1.5% at 10,660. BSE oil & gas, FMCG and power indices also advanced. IT pivotals declined for the second straight day on recent gains of rupee against the dollar.

BSE IT index was down 0.2% at 6,406. Interest rate sensitive realty stocks fell on profit booking after recent gains with the index declining 1.3% at 2,280.

Back home, index heavyweight Reliance Industries was the top Sensex gainer after reporting a better-than-expected 24% year-on-year growth in net profit at Rs 5,502 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3) on account of higher than expected profitability from refining segment. The stock was up 2.3% at Rs 920.

BHEL gained 2.2% at Rs 232 after it said it has achieved a significant milestone in Africa with the successful commissioning of its first Steam Turbine Generator (STG) Unit in Ethiopia.

Significantly, this is also the company's first STG set to be commissioned in the African continent, Bhel said in a statement.

This was followed by Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki and ITC.

L&T will unveil Q3 results on Thursday while Maruti Suzuki India will come out with Q3 numbers on Friday, respectively.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma dropped 1.8% at Rs 700. Tata Motors, Cipla, TCS and NTPC were among some of the other losers.

Stocks of India's cement giants were under pressure amid benchmark indices inching higher. Poor sales, lower realisations and subdued demand growth for the building commodity have stoked weak sentiments on the counters.

BSE market breadth was marginally negative. Out of 3,021 stocks traded, 1,514 stocks declined while 1,370 shares advanced in today'strades.