Stock markets were witnessing dreary session today owing to lack of signals from worldwide bourses and as bulls ran out of steam after last week's rally.

According India Infoline report, "The bulls seem to be looking for some change and appear to have gone on an early Christmas holiday. Global stocks have struggled lately in making much headway amid some concerns about pricey valuations and the strength of the economic recovery. The markets are a bit nervous as economic rebound could spring a surprise, leading to an early exit from easy money policy. What is also making the markets jittery is a possible reversal in the trend in fund flows. For lack of other triggers, all eyes are fixed on how the dollar behaves and what happens to US interest rates."

"Friday's sturdy jobs data has set the cats among the pigeons. It remains to be seen how upcoming data unfolds, both in the US and elsewhere. Talking of data, Indian market will react to the latest IIP on Friday. We expect a cautious to positive start and another sideways trading session. There might be a bounce back if the global trend improves. That in turn could force the bears to cover their shorts. Overall, the market will remain rangebound amid uncertainty over the near-term outlook," the report added.

At 11:28 am, the 30-share index BSE Sensex gained 51.49 points at 17,034.63 after hitting a low of 16964.11 and high of 17107.26.

Meanwhile, the broad-based Nifty stood at 5085.25, up 0.37%, after touching a high of 5106.50 and low of 5058.90.

The BSE Midcap Index surged 0.55%, while BSE Smallcap Index was up by 0.86%.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index surged 1.28%, BSE Oil&gas Index increased 1.04% and BSE Capital Goods rose 0.67%.

The only loser among the sectoral indices was BSE IT Index, which fell 0.16%.

"Trend deciding level for the day is 5083 / 17034. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 5115 / 17126. However, if Nifty trades below 5083 / 17034 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 5035 - 5003 / 16892 - 16801," said Angel Broking note.

The major gainers in the Sensex pack were Bharti Airtel, which surged 1.77%, Tata Steel zoomed 1.56%, RIL up 1.48%, Hindalco gained 1.44% and L&T increased 0.53%.

The top losers in the 30-share index included RCom, which declined 0.71%, SBI slumped 0.69%, TCS dropped 0.51%, Mah & Mah fell 0.46% and Infosys slumped 0.24%.

RCom found itself opposing charges of financial misconduct on Dec 07, after the administration stated that it had resulted in losses of about Rs 250 crore to the exchequer by under-reporting grosses.

Indian telecom minister A Raja told Parliament that RCOM had under-reported incomes by up to Rs 1,500 crore to TRAI for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08, and DoT was probing the whole issue.