Nifty inches up towards 6K; ICICI Bank, RIL, SBI support

At 10:32 hours IST - the 50-share NSE Nifty was inching up towards 6000-mark again on the back of support from financial, metal, realty, capital goods, select power, pharma and auto companies' shares along with heavyweight Reliance Industries and Wipro. The Sensex started trading above 20,000 level.

However, upside was limited due to selling in Sun Pharma, TCS, Hero Honda, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, BPCL, Infosys, Reliance Communications, Bajaj Auto and ACC.

Breadth was in favour of advances today; about 952 shares advanced while 258 shares declined on National Stock Exchange. Broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.8% and Smallcap up 0.95%.

The Sensex was trading at 20,058, up 169 points and the Nifty rose 48 points to 5,995.

Among frontliners, ICICI Bank was trading at Rs 1,132.05, up 2.97%; Hindalco was at Rs 229.25, up 2.53%; Maruti Suzuki was at Rs 1,450.25, up 2.53% (company will launch its 1st luxury car 'Kizashi' in India on January 28, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources); Sterlite Industries was at Rs 172.05, up 2.05%; Wipro was at Rs 486.50, up 1.78% and Axis Bank was at Rs 1,297.40, up 2.09%.

However, Hero Honda was trading at Rs 1,940.50, down 2.05%; Reliance Communications was at Rs 125.80, down 0.75%; TCS was at Rs 1,158.10, down 0.7%; Bharti Airtel was at Rs 333.40, down 0.51%; Bajaj Auto was at Rs 1,450.05, down 0.34%; Sun Pharma was at Rs 427, down 3.67%; BPCL was at Rs 681.85, down 1.38% and Suzlon Energy was at Rs 50.90, down 0.78%.

In midcap space, India Infoline jumped 7.46% ahead of board meet to consider buyback of shares. ARSS Infra, Wockhardt, MVL and KGN Industries were up 5-7% while Ispat Industries tumbled 15% as JSW Steel will become promoter of company soon, reports CNBC-TV18. Money Matters, Blue Dart, Opto Circuits and Shree Global fell 3-5%.

In smallcap space, Cambridge Solutions, Arshiya Intl, Oil Country, Pratibha Ind and Action Construction gained 5.6-10.5% while Midfield Ind, SVC Resources, Urja Global, Spectacle Info and Prabhav Indust slipped 5%.