Indian Stock markets opened strong on Monday and gained further ground during first few hours. The markets, however, could not sustain at higher levels and slipped during the last one hour of trading session. BSE Sensex closed at 9161 with a gain of 196 point. NSE Nifty closed 70 points higher at 2784. Buying was witnessed in select counters in Power, Telecom, Real Estate, Metals and Capital goods sectors.

BSE Sensex touched and intraday high of 9432 and a low of 9095.

BSE Auto index started the day stronger but towards of the end of the session, ended only 1.2% up. Banking, Capital Goods, Metals, PSU and Technology counters ended the day stronger. Midcap stocks were marginally down while smallcap stocks gained.

Top gainers on NSE included DLF (up by 8.9%), Tata Steel (up by 7.4%), Unitech (up by 7.32%), Ambuja Cements (up by 7.01%), Cairn India (up by 6.7%), Bharti Airtel (up by 5.6%), HDFC (up by 5.1%) and Wipro (up by 4.4%).

Reliance Industries touched an intraday high of Rs 1174, but ended the day flat at Rs 1118. Infosys Technologies (2.3% higher) and Satyam Computers (ended flat) could not sustain the early gains.

Other gainers for the session included Neyveli Lignite, Lanco Infratech, Suzlon Energy, NALCO, Bajaj Finserv, ABB, NDTV, JSW Steel, Hero Honda, Videocon Industries, Adlabs Films, SBI, Sun Pharma, Hind Construction, Reliance Capital, NIIT, UB Holdings, Madras Cements, Tanla Solutions, Alstom Projects, Praj Industries, Tata Chemicals, Century, Biocon, Indiabulls, MRPL and IDBI Bank.

Banking Stocks may outperform for next 3 – 4 trading sessions. Technical Analyst S P Tulsian feels that ICICI Bank is good for hold as the stock has high book value. Due to recent rumors, the stock has lost heavily. Investors can expect good returns over medium term.

Sudarshan Sukhani has suggested buy call for Unitech at lower levels and exit with 15 – 20% returns.

E Mathew has suggested a target of Rs 220 for Tata Steel. Tata Steel closed at Rs 196 (higher by 7.4%).

Tuesday’s opening for Indian markets will depend on US Markets. FTSE was higher by 155 points, CAC (higher by 166 points at 3154 and DAX was trading with a gain of 230 points.